Our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank would like to comment on recent media reporting regarding gender diversity and pay at our Bank.

The implication contained in the article about pay inequity across gender is simply not true.

The WGEA report, which is used as the basis for the article, shows the number of women and men in various categories of roles they perform at a company, not what they're paid.

Statements about the gender pay gap refer to national ABS statistics and incorrectly infer our Bank is underpaying women who work for us.

The reality is that for roles covered by the Enterprise Agreement there is a structured pay scale that is applied consistently regardless of gender.

One of the main reasons our Bank has more women on award rates is because we promote flexible work place options (including part-time or varied hours).

This helps our employees (men and women) stay in the work force as they undertake study, start families or transition to retirement.

The Bank has programs in place to ensure the gender mix of our future leaders is appropriate and a strategy committed to diversity and inclusiveness.

For more information see page 13-14 of our 2012 Annual Report.