Citi slightly improves raw pay gap numbers

Citigroup has made small improvements toward pay equity in the year since it voluntarily disclosed its own raw pay gap data, the company said Wednesday.

In a memo posted to its external blog, Citi said its latest analysis revealed that the median pay for Citi’s female employees worldwide was more than 73% what it paid male employees. The median pay for its minority employees in the U.S. was over 94% what non-minorities made. That represented an increase from 71% for women and 93% for minorities last year.

On an adjusted basis, Citi said that women were paid more than 99% what men made at the firm and there was no statistically significant difference between what minorities and non-minorities made.

“Our work to address both measures is continuous and the pace of change is likely to vary from year to year,” Sara Wechter, head of human resources, said in the memo. “These reviews are important measures of how we’re doing on our commitment to pay colleagues equitably for their work and of the progress we’re making to increase diversity at more senior levels at Citi.”

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

A few companies have voluntarily revealed their adjusted pay-gap data, which factors in job title and location. Citi became the first bank to also disclose its raw pay gap data, which shows pay difference across the company, when pressed by activist investors last year.

Equal pay advocates say the unadjusted numbers are also critical to understanding whether women and minorities might be concentrated in lower-paid positions throughout an organization.

Though the discrepancy was initially not flattering to Citi, the firm garnered praise for at least disclosing those numbers. Several other banks, including Wells Fargo and Bank of America, asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to block shareholder proposals to reveal their own pay gap data. Shareholders later rejected those proposals.

Citi also reiterated its goal to increase representation at the highest ranks. The bank plans to increase representation at the assistant vice president through managing director levels to at least 40% for women worldwide and 8% for black employees in the U.S. by the end of next year.

In a statement, Natasha Lamb, managing partner and director of equity research and shareholder engagement at the investment firm Arjuna Capital, praised Citi for sharing its updated pay gap figures.

“Narrowing the raw median pay gap requires structural changes at the firm… and the numbers show they are making those changes,” she said. “The lack of diversity in the upper echelons of Wall Street will not be solved in one year, but over the course of many. This is a great start, and Citi goes well beyond peers who have not even disclosed these raw numbers.”