At Ricoh, we’re continuing our commitment to fostering a diverse workforce which is reflective of society at large.The latest statistics from the UK government indicate that 51% of the total population of the country are women and girls.
Our people sit at the heart of everything we do, and we know that taking on-board different perspectives, attitudes and experiences can result in fresh approaches, innovation and collaboration. In turn, this is driving a culture of openness and an overall positive impact on business performance.
With this in mind, we are aware that there are currently still a higher proportion of male employees within our business, with a higher proportion of those males in senior roles. As is representative across the UK and a legacy of the technology industry typically attracting men in the past. Additionally across most divisions there are higher rates of pay for male employees, a small proportion have a gap in favour of females and we continue to review all of our business areas to ensure we are taking a proactive approach to addressing these gaps.
To address this and increase the female workforce at Ricoh we have, and will continue to expand upon the following steps:
All of our job roles, pay grades and remuneration are continuously reviewed to ensure a fair structure and we work to address any pay disparities as part of any pay review.
We are continuing to work with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) focus groups, local schools and colleges to put strategies in place to; attract females into our non-traditional technology sector, to further understand the barriers and to work to combat them at the start of women’s careers.
In terms of recruitment our approach has continued to evolve with gender neutral advertising, the inclusion of females on interview panels wherever possible and ensuring that females are included on shortlists.
Internally we are specifically targeting those females in low pay quartiles and encouraging them to consider IT or Technical roles which typically pay higher salaries, whilst also offering training to assist them in development, should they choose that route.
Our Succession Planning and Talent Management programmes are also available and promoted to focus on career paths and opportunities for females to help raise their pay potential. Each of our Ricoh UK divisions have their own diversity targets which are reported on and measured regularly throughout the year and this year we have also introduced a Diversity Champion (Board Member) to help drive initiatives across the business.
