An Post closes gender pay gap for 2nd year

An Post has become the first major employer in Ireland to report a Zero Gender Pay Gap for the second year in a row but still has male-dominated areas of its workforce.

Since 2019, the company, which has over 9,000 employees, has achieved significant progress in balancing representation across the business. There is a 50:50 balance on their Management Board and female representation in the Senior Management Group has increased from 33% to 41%, up by 7% from 2021.

Male-dominated front line

However, gender representation among postal sorting, collection and delivery operations staff is at 13% female compared to 87% male.

An Post has committed to replicating their success of gender representation at the front line of their business with a clear strategy to re-design the recruitment process for postal operative (sorting and delivery) staff. This plan will actively recruit diverse talent with:

• Targeted advertising campaigns
• Revision of the company’s inclusion statement on job ads
• Training of operational managers on inclusive recruitment.

A lot to do

CEO David McRedmond said: “I’m immensely proud of all the great work across the business to make sure that we are a more equal company but also a much better company. This is not just about gender pay it is about equality and diversity, it is part of our programme to provide decent work for all in line with the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals. Equality at all levels is a critical part of our business strategy and An Post is undergoing a major cultural transformation to build a workforce that reflects the communities we serve every day and one in which every colleague feels that they fully belong at An Post.”

He continued: “We know that we have a lot of work still to do in some areas and we have got to work harder to attract more women to work in postal sorting and delivery. While we don’t have a gender quota, we have introduced 50:50 gender balanced shortlisting for senior management jobs and removing any opportunity for unconscious bias so that the best person is always appointed to the role.”

Survey of female colleagues

To measure if their actions are having an impact on the ground, An Post recently conducted a survey of all female colleagues across the business have been with the company for more than three years to understand their feelings on whether the impacts of the cultural transformation were visible and tangible for women at all levels.

61% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that An Post has made solid progress in gender representation within the past three years. Those surveyed reported seeing women progress through the organisation, an increase in female representation, women being more visible, a culture of women supporting women, as well as women finding their voices and speaking up more.

Progression & Developmental Opportunities

At An Post, over 70 females engaged in development opportunities in 2022 through the An Post Green Institute, An Post’s further education, training and development programme. Programmes they completed included, Aspire, a female talent acceleration programme; Advance, a Mentoring programme, Elevate, a frontline manager programme and the Strategic Leadership Programme. Overall, there has been a 36% increase in female applications for education support in 2022 vs. 2021 demonstrating the demand for these programmes.