Across the Smart Pension Sustainable Growth Fund, companies ranked as worst performers on gender pay gap show an average gap 286% higher than those ranked as best performers.
Where does this insight come from?
This insight comes from the first public human capital analysis of an entire UK investment portfolio, conducted by Smart Pension and Denominator on the Smart Pension Sustainable Growth Fund.
As of March 31st 2025, the Smart Sustainable Growth portfolio covers GBP ~4.4 billion in AUM with public equity accounting for 70%. The public equity spans 1,751 holdings across 51 countries and 66 industries.
What does the study measure?
Smart Pension’s deep-dive analysis of social and human capital performance provides a comprehensive view, identifying both strengths and potential risk across the portfolio.
The assessment examines multiple dimensions of human capital, including:
- Leadership and board diversity
- Workforce composition and practices
- Employee turnover and retention
- Gender pay and bonus gaps
- Organizational policies and governance
What are the key gender pay gap and bonus gap insights?
- The average gender pay gap is 19%
- The average gender bonus gap is 36%
- The bonus gap is 89% larger than the pay gap
- The difference between best and worst performers on gender bonus gap is 147%
- The difference between best and worst performers on gender pay gap is 286%
- Just 5% of companies present full gender pay parity
- Overall, in 𝟴𝟴–𝟵𝟬% of firms, men are paid more than women.
These results show that gender pay parity remains the exception rather than the norm.
Why does this matter for investors?
The gender pay gap is a good indicator of how companies manage equality, governance, and their workforce.
When assessed at individual holding level, gender pay data helps investors:
- Identify people-related and social risks
- Compare companies on consistent human capital metrics
- Strengthen active ownership and engagement strategies
- Align investment decisions with responsible investment objectives
An open invitation to UK pension funds
Pension funds can share their portfolios with Denominator and participate in the first industry benchmark in the UK. Results will be anonymized as the purpose is not to rank pension funds against each other but rather creating a benchmark for comparison.
Pension funds will get access to their own results free of charge.
Get in contact through this link if you would like to participate in the UK benchmark.
Contact to kristian.wredstroem@denominator.com to learn more about our data and the UK benchmark.
