Z Energy welcomes Government decision to introduce gender pay gap reporting

Z Energy (Z) has welcomed the Government’s announcement today that it plans to introduce pay transparency reporting for companies with over 250 employees – something the energy provider already does.

Z was one of the 13 business signatories to the ‘Mind The Gap’ campaign to the Prime Minister asking the Government to legislate pay gap reporting. It has set a public goal to close its gender pay gap by the end of 2024 and has an average base salary ratio (women to men) of 0.99:1.

Z’s Chief Financial Officer, Nicola Law says that the announcement of the reporting requirements will help to increase gender pay transparency across the nation’s largest companies, and will ultimately enhance diversity through attracting diverse candidates to roles and organisations, which also assists with closing pay gaps.

“At Z, we're transparent about our commitment to achieving and maintaining both pay parity and pay equity. While we've made progress over the past 10 years, there's more to do. We wholeheartedly support legislation that will support our goal to close the gap,” she says.

“Over 10 years ago now, we signed up to the UN's Women's Empowerment Principles. In March 2020 we received the Gender Tick, and are also signatories to Aotearoa New Zealand's first pay gap registry. Several years ago, we started reporting on our gender pay gap in our annual reports because there’s nothing like making a public statement about your progress.

“The good news is we're doing pretty well with representation at an executive level — with a 50/50 gender split in our Executive team — but this is not the case in other parts of our business. We’re also continuing to narrow our overall gender pay gap and have made significant progress in the last 18 months. It’s also important to note that this disparity can shift significantly as people move into and out of Z.

“One of our greatest strengths is the diversity of our people, and we must ensure that there are equal opportunities for everyone working at Z.”

More information about Z’s commitment to equality and closing the gender pay gap is available here.