Rice Warner nominated for ‘Employer of the Year’

Rice Warner is proudly a finalist in Money Management and Super Review’s Women in Financial Services Awards 2018 ‘Employer of the Year’ category.

Rice Warner is committed to championing the goal of achieving economic security for women in retirement.

In 2013, Rice Warner released its Valuing Females Policy. We are excited to announce that in 2018 we have reached our aim of achieving a 45% female staff gender balance.

The policy contains both financial and non-financial support with the main feature being that we pay our female employees an additional 2% superannuation, in addition to their normal package. This is specifically aimed at addressing the challenges women face with achieving a financially secure retirement, due to longer life expectancy, lower salaries and likely career breaks to have children.

To implement our policy, Rice Warner had to seek approval from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Michael Rice first wrote to AHRC in January 2012 and this led to an 18-month period of correspondence and negotiations. We were required to provide substantial evidence to demonstrate the disadvantages that women face, including complex actuarial modelling. The AHRC were very supportive throughout this period and deemed our initiative to be a special measure under the Sex Discrimination Act.

Rice Warner was the first Australian company to establish this policy.

The response to our policy from within our company has been very positive amongst both our female and male employees. We run regular internal staff education programs around this topic and we have experienced an uplift in voluntary contributions, particularly from our female employees. We have also spoken externally at many industry events and most recently at a Human Resources state wide roadshow.

Michael Rice, our CEO, is also currently the Actuary of the Year, a prestigious annual title awarded by the Institute of Actuaries Australia. This reflects Michael’s long-standing contribution to public policy in superannuation, and includes his support of female specific initiatives.

Rice Warner is proud to accept this nomination.