Gender pay gaps at many tech firms narrowing, reports find

Facebook parent firm Meta paid women 14.5pc less per hour than men, on average, this year, down from 15.7pc last year.

The large gap between male and female bonuses is also down slightly, the firm reported.

The gap, which is larger than the average across the wider Irish economy, is down to fewer women in the highest pay scales, with men making up 60pc of the highest-paid quartile of staff.

“Women are better represented in non-tech roles when compared with tech roles in Meta Ireland. As tech jobs like production engineers are typically paid more in the market, it has a disproportionate impact on pay gaps,” the Meta report said.

Microsoft saw its pay gap increase from close to zero last year to 3pc this year, though the bonus gap narrowed considerably to 1.6pc. Computer chip maker Intel saw its pay gap rise as well, to 6.5pc, up from 5.4pc last year.

Gaming firm Flutter announced that its pay gap has narrowed to 3.9pc, a drop of almost nine points on last year, while women are paid more than men on average in its Paddy Power retail outlets, where 62pc of colleagues are female.

Flutter said the positive results were down to hiring more senior females in head office and online roles

“In Flutter’s second year reporting our gender pay gap in Ireland, I am encouraged to see positive progress to reduce the gap, moving closer to achieving pay parity between men and women,” said Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to attract, hire, and retain top-tier talent throughout our entire business, and continue to focus on gender diversity.

“Throughout 2024, ongoing focus is needed to achieve our goals, and we remain dedicated to taking a leading role both locally and globally.”

The pay-gap reports that have been released so far show the difference between average male and female pay at some of Ireland’s largest firms has widened since last year, but experts say that fluctuations are normal year on year as staff leave and join.

Out of just over 30 reports seen by the Irish Independent, the pay gap – the difference between average hourly pay for men and women, which is not an indicator of unequal pay – has widened in around half.

Meanwhile, major investors in the UK want the financial regulator to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay-gap reporting for banks.

Gender pay-gap reporting has been in place in the UK since 2017.

In a letter to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), spearheaded by responsible investment charity ShareAction, 10 investors said that transparently sharing racial pay disparities would catalyse further action to create more equitable workplaces.

The open letter said black, Asian or other ethnic minority staff currently hold only one in 10 management roles in the UK’s financial institutions.

The number must be doubled if it is to reflect the FCA’s own targets and the UK’s ethnic make-up, it warned.