INDUSTRY INSIGHT


BRIDGING THE GAP L


Just over a year on from the introduction of the Gender Pay Gap reporting, the DIY and garden centre industry comments on its figures and sets out actions to address the inequality. Kiran Grewal reports.


ast month marked the deadline for businesses to submit a report with their gender pay gap figures,


which has since revealed that the average pay gap in the UK is 18.4% in favour of men.


The gender pay gap is not the same as having unequal pay, which would be against the law. By law, men and women with the same jobs have to be paid the same wages. A gender pay gap can arise if there are more highly-paid men than women in a company, if women are seen to be less experienced than their male counterparts, or if women take a hit to their salary after taking maternity leave. In reporting gender pay, firms


www.diyweek.net


with more than 250 staff have to publish data on the average difference between male and female employees. With a focus on the DIY, home


improvement and garden industry, analysis


from the government


findings suggest the gender pay gap is larger than expected. For instance, B&Q reports that women’s mean hourly rate is 8.8% lower than men’s, and the median hourly rate is 2% lower. Further findings from the report show that, across all four quartiles in B&Q, men had a higher representation, with the highest- paid


positions in the company


largely taken by men, showing only 38.3% of them to be female. B&Q says in its report: “This analysis shows that our gender pay gap is driven by a lower level of


female representation in senior roles within the company.” Wyevale


Garden Centres has


reported women’s mean hourly rate is 16% lower than men’s,. However, the median hourly rate is 0%, showing that men and women earn the same. Across pay quartiles, Wyevale Garden Centres has shown a much larger representation of women in the business, with women in a higher percentage over men, apart from the highest quartile, which is the senior positions of the company, which highlight that 48.8% of these positions are taken by women.


Treating people the way we like to be treated Dobbies Garden Centres Ltd reports that women’s mean hourly rate is


11 MAY 2018 DIY WEEK 15


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28