Insurer QBE has announced it is closing its gender pay gap but there remain issues around the differential when it comes to bonuses.

QBE UK has released its gender & ethnicity pay gap report for 2023 which showed the mean overall gender pay gap across the organisation was 21.9% in 2023, down from 24.7% in 2022, and 32.8% when it started reporting for 2017.

This compares to a mean gap of 35% in the insurance industry 26.6% in the financial services industry and 8.3% for the UK economy.

QBE EO people director, Nikki Lees said some of QBE’s enhanced and updated benefits package announced last year were helping drive change.

“We are committed to reducing the gap, whether that’s through our benefits, our partnerships, or our upskilling programme,” she explained. “While we have made progress to reducing our pay gap for gender and ethnicity, challenges remain and we continue to strive towards reducing these gaps.”

However the insurer’s gender bonus pay gap increased from 50.1% in 2022 to 51.7% in 2023.  It remains below the industry’s gender bonus gap, most recently recorded at 59%. In 2017, the bonus pay gap at QBE was 78.1%.

Lees said QBE was focussed on addressing the bonus issue.

“While progress has been made to reduce the gender pay gap at QBE, like the rest of the industry, the bonus pay gap remains an issue and more work needs to be done to reduce this,” she continued. “While the popularity of part time roles plays a contributing factor, higher bonus pay-outs to new senior male hires and joining start dates certainly skews the results.

“The removal of barriers to career progression through initiatives like equalised parental leave help challenge traditional gender roles both at home and at work. This in turn, will help reflect positively in a narrowed gender pay gap and increased equity in leadership.”

At a global level, QBE revealed it has met its end of 2025 target of reaching 40% Women in leadership levels two years ahead of plan with more work needed to achieve this across all regions.

For the third time, QBE has published its ethnicity pay gap data and this has reduced from 10.4% in 2022 to 5.4% in 2023, reflecting its lowest level in the three-year period.

“Through our UK ethnicity targets we remain committed to increasing ethnic diverse representation at all levels of the organisation,” added Lees. “Last year we also introduced new sense of belonging targets as we know equality of experience is just as important as representation levels.”

The insurer’s gender bonus pay gap increased from 50.1% in 2022 to 51.7% in 2023.  It remains below the industry’s gender bonus gap, most recently recorded at 59%. In 2017, the bonus pay gap at QBE was 78.1%.