Accelerating action: closing the gender gap in Reward and People Analytics

Every year, International Women’s Day serves as both a celebration of progress and a stark reminder of the work that remains in the pursuit of gender equality.

This year’s theme, “Accelerating Action,” is a direct invitation for businesses, policymakers, and individuals to move beyond discussions and take decisive steps towards gender parity. 

At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 [1] - roughly five generations from now - to reach full gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum. This statistic highlights why urgent, collective action is essential. 

Across industries, women continue to face systemic barriers to equal pay, leadership opportunities, and career advancement. These challenges are particularly pronounced in Reward and People Analytics; a sector that is pivotal in shaping equality in compensation structures and workplace policies, yet struggles with its own gender disparities. 

The gender gap in Reward and People Analytics

Despite being a field dedicated to fairness in compensation and workforce analytics, it still reflects many broader inequalities in the corporate world. While HR is often perceived as a female-dominated profession, the reality is that women remain underrepresented in its most senior roles. The higher up the corporate ladder, the fewer women there are.

• Women occupy 70% of HR roles overall, yet only around 36.6% of leadership positions in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies are held by women [2].
• A staggering 75% of UK employers still report a gender pay gap favouring men, with women earning an average of £28,425 less per year than their male counterparts [3].
• The financial services industry, which often houses Reward and Analytics teams, reports some of the highest gender pay disparities, with gaps as large as 22.2% [4]. 

These figures make it clear: gender inequality in pay and leadership is still a major issue, and unless companies take immediate and sustained action, progress will continue to move at a glacial pace.

Leading by example

At Catalyst, we are committed to not only recognising these inequalities but actively working to eliminate them - both within our own organisation and across the industry. We believe that businesses must take responsibility for addressing gender disparities through actionable initiatives that go beyond performative commitments. 

1. Closing the gender pay gap

Internally, we are committed to ensuring pay equity across our team and regularly review salary structures to identify and eliminate disparities. Externally, we work with our clients to advocate for transparency in compensation and given our expansive knowledge of compensation, we can readily identify when women are underpaid and ensure that their revised offer reflects peers and is benchmarked correctly. 

2. Inclusive recruitment practices

As experts in our field, we are uniquely positioned to drive change in hiring practices. We actively work to reduce bias in recruitment by ensuring diverse shortlists, advocating for more women in senior roles, and encouraging organisations to rethink traditional hiring criteria that may disadvantage female candidates.

3. The impact of flexibility

Gender equality in the workplace isn’t just about pay - it’s about removing barriers that disproportionately impact caregivers, particularly working mothers. Caregiving responsibilities often force women to reduce hours or decline career opportunities, contributing to the gender pay gap.

True flexibility goes beyond remote work; it requires dynamic policies that enable employees to excel without sacrificing career growth. When businesses prioritise structured flexibility, they drive higher retention, better performance, and faster progress towards closing the gender gap. As well as increasing the value of women in the workplace.

Accelerating action across the industry

While our internal initiatives are crucial, the real impact comes from our ability to influence industry-wide change. We believe that accelerating action means:

• Implementing pay transparency measures that ensure all employees understand how salaries are determined and where disparities exist. With the EU Pay Transparency Directive taking effect in 2026, companies will be required to disclose pay structures, helping to identify and address inequalities. Proactively embracing this change fosters a fairer, more inclusive workplace while demonstrating a commitment to gender equality.
• Encouraging flexible working policies that support women in balancing professional and personal responsibilities without sacrificing career progression.
• Holding companies accountable by setting gender diversity targets and tracking progress against these goals.
• Championing women in the industry by highlighting success stories, elevating female voices in industry discussions, and fostering a supportive professional network.

We refuse to wait another 135 years for gender equality to become a reality. Through our commitment to equitable hiring, pay transparency and leadership development, we are taking meaningful steps to close the gender gap. 

This International Women’s Day, we urge businesses across all sectors to join us in taking bold, measurable actions to accelerate progress. By working together, we can ensure that the next generation of women enters a workforce where equal pay, equal opportunity, and equal representation are the standard - not the exception.

If you're looking to build a more diverse and inclusive workforce, partner with us to find exceptional talent. Or, if you want to work for a business that accelerates action and prioritises diversity in all candidate and client interactions, join our team here.

Resources:

[1] https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Theme 

[2] https://ftsewomenleaders.com/progress

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/04/australia-gender-pay-gap-government-report 

[4] https://www.wearepay.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Pay.UK-Gender-Pay-Gap-Report-2024.pdf