Improving the gender pay gap in our organisation has been a key goal over the last two years. We recognised that like many organisations the major driver of the historic ‘gap’ within Oodle is the mix of gender at the most senior levels of the organisation and within certain divisions of the business, (technology and sales).
In response to this we have been identifying and developing internal female talent to give them the confidence and capability to take up more senior roles within our organisation. We have also been diligent in our external hiring activities to make sure we successfully identify and recruit high performing female talent into senior roles, which is tangibly demonstrated by the current gender diversity of today’s Executive Committee. This has been underpinned with a deliberate and proactive journey of developing a culture designed to attract and retain the most talented women in our industry.
The results for 2023 are a little dated at the time of publication but they show the early stages of improvement on this agenda, and we know from our own internal data that our progress is accelerating rapidly. There is a real commitment to this important agenda throughout our business and we fully intend to demonstrate that over the coming months and years.
What is gender pay?
Gender pay is the difference in the average pay of males and females across an organisation regardless of their role.
The statistics can be affected by a range of factors, including the different number of males and females across all roles within the organisation.
This is different from equal pay, which focuses on whether males and females are equally compensated for performing the same or similar work.
What is mean and median pay gap?
The mean gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly rate of pay for females, compared to the average hourly rate of pay for males, within a company.
The median represents the middle point of a population.
If you lined up all the females at a company and all the males, the median pay gap is the difference between the hourly rate of pay for the middle female compared to the hourly rate of pay for the middle male.
Our 2023 pay results are based on a snapshot of payroll data from 5 April 2023:
Overall, our mean gender pay gap reduced from 24% in 2022 to 22% in 2023 and our median gender pay gap reduced from 20% in 2022 to 11% in 2023.
Our data shows that the distribution of pay between males and females is narrowing. However, we still have more work to do, especially within our male dominated functions like Technology. While we are aware that the talent pools within the Motor and Finance industries are male dominated, we are fully committed to addressing this challenge by creating effective routes for women to enter the industry.
Our gender bonus gap:
For this report, the definition of bonus includes any reward relating to productivity performance, incentives or commission.
70% of eligible males received a bonus vs 69% of eligible females received a bonus.
When using the median, males received 24% more bonus pay than females. When using the mean, males received 37% more bonus pay than females.
The bonus gap is mainly due to the under representation of females within certain roles, whereby bonuses account for a significant part of overall earnings. Whilst we are disappointed in our gender bonus gap increasing, we have since taken steps to align our bonus schemes to ensure bonuses no longer represents a significant part of earnings.
Pay quartiles:
The data below shows the proportion of men and women in each pay quartile.
We are pleased to report an increase in the percentage of females within the upper quartile from 2023. However, increasing the number of females in senior roles remains a key focus area. We are continuing to make progress in this area and are ramping up our efforts to ensure the number of females in the upper quartile continues to grow substantially.
Over the past 12 months we have launched multiple talent development programmes aimed at growing and retaining talent within our organisation. These programmes include supporting senior female leaders in completing the Level 5 Women in Leadership Apprenticeship.
Additionally, we’ve launched several Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) networks, including a Gender Diversity network. These networks provide a platform for employees to engage, share experience and create a more inclusive environment. Furthermore, we’ve established partnerships with external DEI providers to help us focus and inform our future strategies about diversity, equity and inclusion.
Although we’ve made positive changes to our gender pay gap, our data is not where we want it to be. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture by taking deliberate steps to better understand and improve our gender pay gap, so we can affect change within an industry which has been traditionally male orientated.
