Iarnród Éireann Gender Pay Gap report 2022
14 December 2022
Gender Pay Gap data shows 6.3% gap in favour of women: company expects gap to narrow over coming years as female representation in operational roles increases
Iarnród Éireann’s Gender Pay Gap data, published today under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, shows a gender pay gap of 6.32% for the mean hourly rate in favour of women.
In the report, the company highlights increased representation of women across all roles in the organisation as a key target, and acknowledges that as representation in operational roles across Train Operations and Infrastructure Management increases, the gender pay gap is likely to narrow in the years ahead.
Both public transport generally and railways specifically are historically male-dominated sectors, and with 11.2% of the company’s 4,231 employees women on the reporting date (19th June 2022), the company is targeting a doubling in the number of female employees by 2030.
Quartile reporting under the act shows lower representation of women in the lower (9.3%) and lower middle (5.1%) quartiles, and higher in the upper middle (14.1%) and upper (16.4%) quartiles. As 18% of the current workforce is expected to have retired over the next five years, the company has a unique opportunity to improve representation in roles such as driving, station, permanent way, signalling, and engineering.
Initiatives in place include:
- The Talent Management team have created a number of internal talent programmes that are female targeted and focus on career development. The Women in Leadership Programme, and the Women in Rail Network combine in-class learning and career development workshops to empower women and create a supportive network of likeminded peers. In 2022, the talent Management Team won a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development HR Award in the Learning and Development category, for the programme to develop female talent at each stage of the Talent Pipeline.
- The company’s CIPD-accredited Graduate has seen 34% female recruitment. The Graduate Programme is structured learning and development over three years with real-life work experience in an industry that continues to innovate and challenge for its customers.
- The company has undertaken a range of initiatives to engage at second level with girls considering career choices. This includes the Try a Trade Programme, which encourages girls and mixed schools to visit Inchicore Works’ apprentice workshops and “try a trade,” in many cases for the first time.
- Iarnród Éireann is travel partner with iWish, a community dedicated to showcasing the power of STEM subjects to teenage girls.
Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Jim Meade said “This essential Act has given us the opportunity to forensically investigate our commitment to our female employee base, analyse organisational trends and statistics, and identify areas for improvement.
Iarnród Éireann is on an ambitious journey to develop rail as the backbone of a sustainable transport system, and there can be no question that developing and championing our people is an essential part of our approach. Our people will better serve our customers and communities if we better reflect those customers and communities, which is why increased representation of women in our workforce is such a priority for Iarnród Éireann.”
Read the full report Iarnród Éireann Gender Pay Gap report.