Our diversity data

We’re building a more accurate view of our diversity profile. Sharing our data publicly enables us to hold ourselves accountable and effectively target our actions.

We recognise data transparency helps drive progress on diversity and inclusion across both our organisation and our wider industry.

The shape of our organisation

Although we are making progress, it’s clear we have more work to do. While we have a broadly even split of men and women at HSBC, we have more men than women in senior roles, and more than two-thirds of all women who work at the bank are employed in junior roles.

Seniority distribution by gender

Senior refers to employees in bands 3 and above in our global career band structure; Middle refers to employees in bands 4-5; Junior refers to employees in bands 6-8.

Share of women in senior leadership roles globally

Senior leaders are classified as employees at band 3 and above within our global career band structure.

Share of headcount by business area

Excludes employees who work in other areas (less than 1%).

Movement of women in senior leadership

Promotions to senior leadership are defined as moving from our global career band 4 into 3. Leavers includes both voluntary and involuntary.

Gender representation by business area and seniority

Senior refers to employees in bands 3 and above in our global career band structure; Middle refers to employees in bands 4-5; Junior refers to employees in bands 6-8. Excludes employees who work in other areas (less than 1%).

Additional diversity data

Data shown as a percentage of those who chose to respond to each question in our employee engagement survey.

12.4%
PER CENT
Fact: 12.4 per cent of our employees self-identify as belonging to an ethnic minority. Information: The survey was completed by 61 per cent of employees in the 38 markets where the question could be asked. The question was answered by 95.2 per cent of employees who saw it, with the remainder choosing “prefer not to say”.
4.9%
Per cent
Fact: 4.9 per cent of our employees self-identify as having a disability. Information: The survey was completed by 61 per cent of employees in the 41 markets where this question could be asked. The question was answered by 97.3 per cent of employees who saw it, with the remainder choosing “prefer not to say”.
7.5%
PER CENT
Fact: 7.5 per cent of our employees self-identify as LGB+. Information: The survey was completed by 62% of employees in the 25 markets where the question could be asked. The question was answered by 91.0% of employees who saw it, with the remainder choosing “prefer not to say”.
0.8%
Per cent
Fact: 0.8 per cent of our employees self-identify as transgender or gender non-binary. Information: The survey was completed by 62 per cent of employees in the 25 markets where the question could be asked. The question was answered by 92.6 per cent of employees who saw it, with the remainder choosing “prefer not to say”.

Measuring our progress

Our representation and the diversity of our senior leadership is tracked and measured, using a variety of metrics and indicators including new hires, promotions and leavers.

We’re expanding our diversity data disclosures to include six markets, covering 70% of our workforce, providing a clearer view of our overall representation and the shape of our organisation.

Pay gaps are another indicator of how we are doing with the diversity of our workforce and show the difference in average earnings between two groups.

Our pay gaps reflect our representation gaps. Women and colleagues of some ethnicities are under-represented in senior and higher paid roles and over-represented in junior and lower paid roles. Unless there is proportionate representation across all roles, we will continue to see a gap in average pay.

These pay gaps are not the same as unequal pay because the way they are calculated doesn’t consider grade, business area or role which influence pay levels. HSBC has strong processes in place to ensure fair and equal pay for similar work regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other factor unrelated to performance or experience.

In the UK, we have reported our gender pay gap since 2017 and in 2020, we voluntarily extended our reporting to include ethnicity for the UK and gender for the US. In 2021, we extended this further to include ethnicity for the US and gender for Mainland China, Hong Kong, India and Mexico.

UK gender representation by business area and seniority

Senior refers to employees in bands 3 and above in our global career band structure; Middle refers to employees in bands 4-5; Junior refers to employees in bands 6-8. Excludes employees who work in other areas (less than 1%).

UK share of women in senior leadership roles

Senior leadership refers to employees performing roles classified as 3 and above in our global career band structure.

Our gender representation

We continue to have a significantly higher proportion of men in senior roles in Global Banking and Markets (GBM) within HSBC Bank plc whereas HSBC UK employs more women in junior and part-time roles in Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB).

There are also a number of senior, global, head office roles based in UK.

Data as at 5 April 2021

Our aggregate UK-wide gender pay gaps reflect the shape of our organisation, with fewer women in senior, higher paid roles.

The actions we are taking to build better gender balance across the whole organisation will help to narrow the pay gap year on year. Whilst this is a positive trajectory, we don’t expect that our progress will be linear given fluctuations in the shape of the organisation and overall pay levels.

For 2021, HSBC’s largest UK entity is HSBC UK, which includes 20,763, 54% UK employees and has an 19.3% median gender pay gap and a 30.5% mean gender pay gap. HSBC Bank plc includes 2,105 (6%) employees, the majority of whom are in GBM and has a 51.3% median gender pay gap and a 50.4% mean gender pay gap.

Part-time employees (predominantly women) receive their bonuses on a ‘pro-rata’ basis. The gender bonus gap calculation does not take this into account.

The detailed breakdown of the pay gaps for our UK entities can be viewed in our full disclosures .


UK-wide gender pay gaps


2021 2020 2019
Pay gap
Mean
Pay gap
Mean
2021
44.9%
2020
48.3%
2019
51.1%
Median
Pay gap
Median
2021
46.7%
2020
48.0%
2019
47.8%
Bonus gap
Mean
Bonus gap
Mean
2021
62.2%
2020
67.1%
2019
72.9%
Median
Bonus gap
Median
2021
56.9%
2020
57.9%
2019
60.5%

Note: UK data as at 5 April 2021 calculated in line with UK gender pay gap regulations.

UK ethnicity representation


Our ethnicity representation

These figures are based on the 78% of UK employees who have declared their ethnicity to HSBC, including 74% of senior leaders. We continue to work with our colleagues to help improve our data, increase our understanding and measure the effectiveness of the actions we take.

Compared to the most recent census (for England and Wales 2011), our available data shows that we have a lower proportion of colleagues identifying as Black, White and Mixed Race and a higher proportion of those identifying as Asian and other ethnicities.

We have lower representation of employees from ethnic minority groups in senior roles. Our Black employees are over represented in junior roles and less represented in senior roles.

Our aggregate UK-wide ethnicity pay gaps reflect the shape of our organisation and will become more accurate as self-declaration of ethnicity increases. It compares average earnings of all self-identified ethnic minority employees to average earnings of all self-identified non-ethnically diverse majority employees.

Our senior leadership declaration rates are at 74%. This means around a quarter of higher paid individuals are not currently reflected in the ethnicity pay gap calculations which is likely to impact the pay gaps in future years.

The overall median pay gap (-6.0%) is because the ethnic minority mid-point employee is more senior with different pay and bonus opportunities, compared to the ethnic majority mid-point employee.


Aggregate UK-wide ethnicity pay gaps


2021 2020
Pay gap
Mean
Pay gap
Mean
2021
-0.8%
2020
2.2%
Median
Pay gap
Median
2021
-6.0%
2020
-5.6%
Bonus gap
Mean
Bonus gap
Mean
2021
7.5%
2020
10.3%
Median
Bonus gap
Median
2021
-0.7%
2020
0.8%

UK-wide ethnicity pay gaps breakdown 2021


Diversity
All Ethnic Minority Groups
Pay gap Mean
-0.8%
Pay gap Median
-6.0%
Bonus gap Mean
7.5%
Bonus gap Median
-0.7%
Diversity
Asian
Pay gap Mean
-2.7%
Pay gap Median
-4.9%
Bonus gap Mean
1.8%
Bonus gap Mean
-4.3%
Diversity
Black
Pay gap Mean
22.9%
Pay gap Median
13.2%
Bonus gap Mean
48.0%
Bonus gap Mean
31.5%
Diversity
Mixed Race
Pay gap Mean
-17.8%
Pay gap Median
-29.9%
Bonus gap Mean
-17.8%
Bonus gap Mean
-44.1%
Diversity
Other Ethnic Minority Groups
Pay gap Mean
-8.9%
Pay gap Median
-17.4%
Bonus gap Mean
-3.3%
Bonus gap Mean
-18.6%

Note: UK data as at 5 April 2021 and calculation methodology aligned to UK gender pay gap regulation.

Our UK pay gap reports

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