Using maternity leave to cut female managers’ bonuses is hardly the way to gender equality
On International Women’s Day on Friday, one company signalling that the financial services industry needed to do more for gender equality was UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank. Making its point, it devoted prominent space on its website to senior female managers airing their expertise on financial markets. All the more awkward, then, was Monday’s disclosure by this newspaper that a number of top UBS female employees had criticised the bank for using their maternity leave to impose long-term cuts on their bonuses.
More than a dozen women in the bank’s Swiss wealth management unit cited the treatment they had suffered, which in many cases saw their bonuses cut by a nearly a third or more. They had complained more than a year ago, but continued to be affected. Some had resigned in frustration.
The female employees had also been subjected to patronising comments from managers that are entirely out of keeping with the modern financial — or indeed any — workplace. As an explanation for her bonus cut, one was told that she had made the “lifestyle choice” of being a working mother. Another, when protesting about a lower bonus, was told to “focus on her baby”. Their situation contrasts sharply with Swiss male employees who take several weeks’ annual leave for obligatory military service and suffer no bonus cuts.
Apart from being totally unfair, the case amounts to dismal public relations for a global bank. While it appears to affect women employed only in Switzerland, it can only be demoralising for women employed by UBS throughout the world to know that its home base operates in such a fashion.
www.ft.com
0 comments:
Join the Conversation