Introduction

Adica is committed to having a diverse and inclusive culture where all employees are provided with an opportunity to grow, develop and advance their careers regardless of gender. We are proud that our workforce is 55% female and that our Executive Leadership Team is 50% female (at the time of the WGEA reporting 2024 submission).

In 2024, we were again recognised as an Employer of Choice. We are also a re-certified Family Inclusive Workplace and are proud to be a member of the Diversity Council Australia.

We have strong policies in place for our working parents, including gender neutral paid parental leave for all parents (14 weeks paid plus paid superannuation on unpaid leave components), a flexible working policy and supported flexible working arrangements for many of our employees where requested.

In Australia, the total remuneration average gender pay gap currently stands at 21.8%. For the first time, the current average gender pay gap data now includes the total remuneration of CEOs and Casual Manager remuneration.

The following statement addresses our areas of strength and improvement opportunities when it comes to our gender pay gap. We are a small organisation with just 233 employees (at time of reporting), but we are showing our commitment to reducing our gender pay gap by setting specific targets and actions to demonstrate the importance we place on having a diverse and inclusive workforce at all levels within Adica. The targets we set back in March 2024 will not show results until the next reporting period, but from some recent analysis, we expect to see some improvement in the areas we have specifically looked to address.

Our Gender Pay Gap

Our average (mean) total remuneration Gender Pay Gap is 22.6%, which is slightly lower than our industry benchmark of 24.8%.

Our median total remuneration gap is 32.3% compared to 22.5% for our industry comparison group. This requires further analysis as our GPG has remained consistent, but industry comparison data has reduced, and we are unclear as to the reason for this.

Gender Composition

We acknowledge that we have a gender pay gap, and like many organisations, it’s because we have a disproportionate concentration of females in our workforce that make up our lower to lower-middle quartile positions and a stronger representation of men in the upper quartile, in some areas, such as the technology space.

Pleasingly, we have again seen an increase in the number of women in our management positions, increasing to 48% in the 2023 - 2024 reporting period, up from 45% in the previous reporting period.

Part-time employment remains skewed towards women, particularly in our lower quartile positions.

Representation on our Executive Leadership Team (including our CEO) is now at gender parity, with a 50/50 split of males and females making up our Executive team.

Adica’s Action on Gender Equality

Recruitment & Internal Progression

We will continue to have targeted recruitment campaigns to focus on increasing our male representation at lower to lower-middle quartile positions whilst maintaining our standard recruitment approach to always hire the best person for the role regardless of gender or other DEI elements.

Our customer contact centre is based in a regional location and does present additional challenges when hiring due to a limited number of applicants.

Targets

Lower Quartile: increase male representation in these positions to 25% (from 19%) by the 2024 – 2025 WGEA reporting period (relating to our 2022-2023 data submission).

Lower Middle Quartile: increase male representation in these positions to 37% (from 32%) by the 2024 – 2025 WGEA reporting period (relating to our 2022-2023 data submission).

Board composition: our Board's gender composition is currently 20% female (Chair) compared to industry benchmarking of 27%. There is an opportunity here to improve our gender balance.

Retention: we have now implemented more beneficial survey tools to obtain data to provide better insights from employees who join us, remain with us longer term or decide to move on from Adica. This will support us to develop more meaningful retention strategies and address areas of concern where it relates to gender equality and career progression.

Useful definitions for reference

Pay Gap vs Equal Pay

The gender pay gap is the difference in average earnings between women and men in the workforce and should not be confused with women and men being paid the same for the same or comparable job, which is equal pay.

Mean and Median Explained

The mean (or average) pay gap is calculated by adding all employees’ salaries together and dividing it by the number of employees.

The median represents the middle value after sorting the gender pay of female and male employees of an organisation from lowest to highest.

Legislative Requirements

Changes to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 were passed by the Federal Parliament in March 2023 and were introduced to encourage employers to deploy and drive workplace policies, practices and environments that support gender equality. As a result of this reform, from February 2024, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency is now publishing the gender pay gap for employers with a workforce of 100 or more employees, requiring employers with 500 or more employees to introduce structured Gender Equality Indicators (GEIs) to encourage action. For the first time in the 2023 – 2024 reporting period, CEO and Casual Manager total remuneration is also included in the GPG data publication.