At AIA Australia, we embrace diversity. We know to achieve our purpose of making a difference in people's lives, we need a team that represents and understands the needs of the customers and partners we help. Our people are our greatest strength, and we empower our team members to have meaningful careers by fostering a diverse, inclusive and supportive culture. Our culture is anchored to our Operating Philosophy of Doing the Right Thing, in the Right Way, with the Right People.
Our Operating Philosophy extends to fairly paying our people, regardless of gender. The biggest barrier to closing the pay gap, consistent with the rest of the financial services industry, is a need for greater female representation in management positions.
AIA Australia's team is comprised of 55% women. Women represent 60% of our most senior roles and 57% of our non-management roles. Where we see a lower rate of representation is in our levels of emerging managers, which has an impact on pay differences.
This year’s average gender pay gap of 16.7% remains in line with 2022 and is a reduction of 2.0% compared to 2021. AIA Australia’s average (16.7%) and median total remuneration (19.5%) gender pay gap continue to trend below the industry average of 20.9% and 22.3% respectively, showcasing our commitment to pay equity.
We acknowledge there is more we need to do to close the gap and we are intent on building on the efforts made in 2023. In 2024, we will continue to run our flagship women's leadership development program Elevate. We will manage our talent development so we can work towards an equal gender split for those being promoted to management positions.
The ongoing review and enhancement of key policies targeting diversity will continue. Notably, an end-to-end review of the parental leave experience to ensure a smoother transition return to work, on top of existing flexible work arrangements and financial support via return-to-work bonuses.
We intend to develop a formal Diversity and Inclusion Strategy with gender targets in 2024, informed by data and subject-matter expertise.
We acknowledge the barriers to gender pay will take time and persistence. We are confident our continued efforts will contribute to the financial services industry's commitment to gender equality.