The gender pay gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women, but it does not mean that women are paid less than men in the same roles.
Big Society Capital voluntarily discloses its gender pay gap data. We want to be transparent and open about our approach to how we pay our employees and where we can, use and share data to test our approach, recognise where we can do better and act on it.
We welcome the reduction in our gender pay gap, in part as a result of measures taken since our last report, and we will continue to ensure best practice by combining the voice of our colleagues with external expertise.
Our gender pay data and what it means
There has been a reduction in our pay gap for 2019: the gap between mean hourly pay for all female employees compared to male employees has decreased from 28% in 2018 to 21% in 2019. Our results also show that men have higher average earnings than women in each quartile.
The positive movement in the overall pay gap this year has been driven by a number of factors; one of which and similar to 2018, has been a greater proportion of female new joiners in the year than male joiners.
What have we been doing since our last report?
We continue to ensure our pay and grading structure is robust and fair and are committed to ensuring compliance with equal pay legislation.
Women in our workforce
We are proud that as at January 2020 women make up 62% of our overall workforce. This compares to 68% in 2019. Similar to 2018, there is good evidence of progression for female staff; 67% of staff across the organisation who were promoted or awarded above-inflation pay increases in 2020 were women. We are committed to promoting a culture of learning and continued professional development for all our staff.
Diversity and inclusion approach for recruitment
When hiring, we seek a diversity of backgrounds across business, government, the social and financial sectors and our continued use of the blind hiring software, Applied, where applications are anonymised, ensures we make decisions based on merit, hiring candidates based on their ability, not on their background. The number of female applicants through Applied is 49% and the number of females then hired is 56%. Find out more about diversity and inclusion at Big Society Capital.
Flexible working
We encourage flexibility in our working practices and in 2019 we developed our flexible working policy to support different ways of working that suit individuals, regardless of gender. The recent impact of COVID-19 has put a greater spotlight on our need for an agile workforce and our ability to support all our employees to effectively work from home, ensuring business continuity. This is further evidence of our culture of respect and inclusion, accommodating and supporting the needs of all our employees.
What’s next for Big Society Capital?
We continue to focus on the diversity of our people and know we can do more, not only in reducing our gender pay gap, but also to put diversity and inclusion at the forefront of our business, building on our current diversity and inclusion plan.
We recognise there is no quick fix and that it will take more time, but we believe the following additional steps will help us continue to reduce our gender pay gap.
- We have commissioned experts in diversity and inclusion and organisational strategy development, Inclusive Boards, to conduct an independent equality, diversity and inclusion review of Big Society Capital.
- We will continue to focus on our recruitment; ensuring all vacancies are able to reach diverse networks, working more closely with Applied to make sure our recruitment data can better inform our decisions and plans.
- We use our performance and development review process to understand everyone’s aspirations and work hard to encourage women and men to seek promotion. We will continue with our work started in early 2020 to train and coach our managers better to support their teams to achieve this.
- We will look more systematically at succession planning for more senior roles across Big Society Capital with a view to creating opportunities for a diverse range of staff.
- As a direct result of COVID-19 and its impact on our staff both in their professional and personal life, we have extended our flexible working policy to allow all employees to work from home until 2021.
- We will work hard to engage with our employees about values and our culture and its ability to foster respect and inclusion.
We know we can do more and will work hard to continue to reduce the boundaries preventing people from reaching their full potential, whilst actively supporting the development of all our employees.