Citigroup: Reasons for senior-level departures vary by gender

Dive Brief:

A survey of senior-level employees at Citigroup showed women in those roles leave the company for different reasons than their male counterparts, according to a Citigroup report published April 29.
The company said the internal survey showed senior-level women tend to focus on items related to leadership and the company, while senior-level men tend to focus more on their relationship with their managers. "Understanding this disparity is an opportunity for further exploration and it highlights areas where we can focus," Sara Wechter, Citigroup's global head of HR, said in the report.
Separately, Citigroup said that more than half (51%) of its global workers are female, and 47% are minorities. For managing director and director-level positions, those shares dropped to 26% and 30%, respectively.

Dive Insight:

Recent disclosures by Citigroup show that the company is making progress toward certain measures of gender equality — namely its gender pay gap — though it has not entirely eliminated such pay disparities.

In January, the bank disclosed that its female employees are paid on average 99% of what male employees are paid, with no statistically significant difference between pay for minorities and non-minorities, when adjusted for job function, level and geography. Unadjusted company numbers showed women at Citigroup are paid 73% of what men are paid on average, while minorities are paid 94% of what non-minorities are paid on average, the company said. Those unadjusted figures are closer to closing the gap than a year ago, when Citigroup said the pay gaps stood at 71% and 93%, respectively.

Citigroup committed to closing both race-based and gender-based pay disparities in a 2018 memo to employees. At the time of that memo, several high-profile companies including tech giants Google and Microsoft were facing legal action alleging they discriminated against women in pay and promotions.

A number of cultural factors can help or hurt retention of employees, including senior leaders. One of the biggest is flexibility, according to a 2019 report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The firm found that 20% of women and 30% of men are more likely to look for a new job within three years if their employer does not offer options such as flexible work schedules or telework. Such policies are evolving into a "business imperative," BCG said.