FD Technologies : Gender Pay Gap Report 2021

Data-driven peormance

Pay Gap Repo 2021

2021 GENDER PAY GAP REPORT

The success of FD Technologies has been built on bringing together high-peorming talent from across the globe. Inclusiveness and diversity are at the hea of our culture. As we continue to transform our business, retaining that culture of inclusion, respect and equal oppounity will be critical in closing the gender pay gap.

In the UK, we have a statutory requirement to publish a Gender Pay Gap for UK employees only. We remain commied to gender neutral reward, enhancing recruitment processes and the continued progression and promotion of female talent to improve the environment for everyone in our team.

Catherine Harrison - HR Director

It is impoant to understand the distinction between the gender pay gap and equal pay. While the gender pay gap is the difference in the average pay of men and women across the UK business only, equal pay refers to a legal requirement that men and women within the same organisation must receive equal pay for doing like-for-like or similar work. Equal Pay has been protected by legislation in the UK for over 40 years but Gender Pay Gap repoing was only introduced in 2017 and is the information that organisations are now required to disclose annually.

In this repo we publish our UK Gender Pay Gap figures for 2021. The repo reveals that across the pay gap quailes, we have a minimal pay gap across the first 3 quailes (lower, lower middle and upper middle) or 75% of our UK workforce. However in the upper quaile, we have a mean gender pay gap of 13.6% and this gap is due to the lower numbers of women in senior positions in the UK.

When we review the progress made since 2017, when gender pay gap repoing was first introduced, we can see progress being achieved as the mean pay gap has reduced from 23% to 19.2% and the median pay gap from 19.3% to 10.5%. The data also reveals that the percentage of females receiving a bonus has increased from 28.8% to 47.1% during this time period. However, the data continues to highlight a gender pay gap remains in the upper quaile due to the lower numbers of women in senior positions.

So we know at the senior level within the Group that we have a pay gap, but the key question is what are we proposing to do about closing the gap. Underpinning our approach has been puing inclusion first and foremost at the centre of driving change within the business.

For me, the discussion around gender pay gaps is representative of the broader inclusivity and diversity agenda and we are enhancing our focus on this topic as pa of our ESG strategy. The implementation of our ESG strategy will drive ongoing improvement and will bring together all the initiatives already underway by establishing shared priorities and clear targets. We have a broad action plan which includes enhancing all marketing and recruitment processes to aract more women to join our team, providing all types of flexibility for all employees, enhancing maternity pay, paternity pay and shared parental leave, suppoing women returners and those with caring responsibilities, as well as investing in training initiatives such as unconscious bias training and tailored aspiring leadership programmes to suppo women as they transition into senior roles. All of these initiatives are critical in driving change, retaining female talent and closing the gap.

We still have work to do - we are on a pathway to build a more diverse, inclusive and representative team and create a pipeline of female talent for the future.

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Results Summary

Gender Pay Gap - Mean and Median Figures

The table below shows the overall mean and median gender pay gap based on hourly rates of pay at the snapshot date (5 April 2021). It also captures the mean and median difference between bonuses paid to men and women at FD Technologies PLC for the 2021 financial year.

• • A mean gap is a calculation of the difference in average pay or bonus of a person in one group in our organisation versus the average pay/bonus of a person in a comparator group, regardless of the role held within our organisation.

• • A median gap is a calculation of the relevant pay/bonus gap based on the reward of the individual in the exact midpoint between the lowest and highest-paid person in one group in the organisation versus the equivalent person in the comparator group.

Gender Pay Gap Quartile Split (1,585 UK Workforce - Male 1,086 - Female 499)

• • Quailes are calculated by ranking the pay for each employee from lowest to highest. This list is then divided into four equal sized groups of one group and the comparator group.

• • Negative pay gaps reflect a pay gap in favour of the minority group.

Gender Pay Gap - Bonus Breakdown

The proportion of men and women receiving a bonus in the Financial Year is as follows:

54.24%

• • Regulatory data is based on a snapshot date of April 21. The hourly pay gap data is hourly pay (including bonuses) in April 21 and the bonus gap data is all relevant bonus and recognition payments in the year to 5 April 21

The gender split among the company's 1,585 UK workforce is

Our journey to date:

Across 2021 we continued to focus on our engagement programme and the implementation of our action plan which focused on aracting and retaining employees.

Research has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has dispropoionately impacted women around the globe. As a result of Covid-19, we adapted many of our talent development and leadership programmes to the world of zoom and teams and also introduced a raft of well being and mental health suppo initiatives. Our commitment to the wellbeing and development of our employees since March 2020, ensured that engagement has remained high and the propoion of women promoted has continued to rise over the last year.

While the pandemic undoubtedly presented additional challenges, we embraced the change in how we work, promoting a hybrid model that has been well received by our staff. We also adapted our recruitment process to enable continued growth across the year.

Key deliverables across this period included enhanced paid maternity leave in the UK, the roll-out of unconscious bias training for the recruitment and people teams, the restructure of our bonus scheme and the continual suppo and promotion of our women through internal and external training and leadership programmes. We also launched our multicultural network alongside our already established Women and Pride networks. With a primary focus on inclusion in the workplace, each is sponsored by an executive leader.

As we strive to aract and retain more women in the business, we recognise challenges remain. We believe our focus and investment in programmes around diversity and inclusion, health and well-being and engagement will help address the need to both aract and retain key female talent and help them become senior leaders in our business.

Action Plan 2021-2022:

• 1. Targeted recruitment process to aract women

• 2. Enhance the pay review process

• 3. Continue unconscious bias training for hiring managers

• 4. Embed women's mentoring programme (STRIVE)

• 5. Launch aspiring leader's programme

• 6. Formalise Hybrid working model

• 7. Continue to recognise the achievements of women through award nominations

• 8. Seek external accreditation for gender diversity

• 9. Enhance promotion processes with a gender focus

• 10. Use Engagement survey data to inform business decisions

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