UK gender pay gap reporting calculates the difference between the hourly pay of men and the hourly pay of women in an organisation. Hourly pay includes base pay, allowances and any bonus and other incentive pay. The gender bonus gap is the difference in the bonus pay received by men and women.
UK gender pay gap – mean and median
Tracking the evolution of the gap year-on-year is key to assess progress. This graph shows the evolution of the Cambridge Consultants UK gender pay gap from 2017.
For reference, the ONS reported that the median gender pay gap among all employees in the UK was 15.5% in 2020, down from 17.4% in 2019.
Pay Quartiles
Bonus
We run an identical bonus scheme for men and women which includes a qualifying period from date of joining before bonus payments are made.
Understanding our UK gender pay gap
Our Gender Pay Gap is larger than we want it to be. We recognise that it must be addressed and that it will take time to create long-term, sustainable change. We are committed to closing the gender pay gap and providing equal opportunities to all of our employees.
Our pay gap is primarily caused by two main factors; roughly half of the gap is due to more women being employed in administrative roles (Executive Assistant, Administrator, Receptionist). We also have fewer women in senior roles in the company than men, which is not uncommon in the technology industry and is something we are actively trying to address. We seek to increase the proportion of women at all levels within the Organisation.
In 2020, we have seen an improvement in our mean and median hourly pay gap. A factor in this is likely to be due to bonus payments being made at the end of 2020 rather than on a quarterly basis, which is our usual practice. This indicates the significance that bonus makes on our gender pay gap due to the fact that bonuses are percentages of basic salaries.
It is important to note that a gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay. Equal Pay is the concept of paying men and women equally for equivalent work. The gender pay gap report does not report on equal pay as it does not compare pay between men and women for specific roles. We monitor equal pay and pay equally and fairly across job roles.
What is Cambridge Consultants doing to address the gap?
We recognise that early life, recruitment, retention and development are all key to addressing the gender pay gap.
We continue to focus on initiatives to encourage more young people to choose subjects relevant to Cambridge Consultants in early life. We have also reviewed the composition of our interview panels and aim to balance gender equality in our interview line-ups. We have actively widened our Internship and Graduate recruitment activities through expanding the number of academic institutions and University Societies that we work with to try to improve the diversity, in background and experience, of our new recruits. We have rolled out a programme of Unconscious Bias training for all UK Managers, which includes focus on the recruitment process.
We are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse work environment where everyone can fulfil their potential and progress without barriers. Retaining and developing the women in our company is a key area of focus alongside adopting and promoting agile flexible working practices to help all employees balance their personal commitments.