Our approach to pay

How do salaries compare?

Gender:

• Quartile 1: 32.6% male and 67.4% female
• Quartile 2: 31.2% male and 68.8% female
• Quartile 3: 31.9% male and 68.1% female
• Quartile 4: 49.9% male and 50.1% female

Ethnicity:

• Quartile 1: 9.8% BAME, 71.5% White and 18.7% not declared
• Quartile 2: 11.5% BAME, 71.9% White and 16.6% not declared
• Quartile 3: 6.8% BAME, 77.5% White and 15.7% not declared
• Quartile 4: 7.6% BAME, 73.4% White and 19.1% not declared
  
  

Bonuses

Gender:

• 81.5% of women received a bonus
• 77.7% of men received a bonus
• The mean average difference between gender gap bonuses at Home Group has reduced by 37.6% over the last 4 years and our median bonus gap is 0%.

Ethnicity:

• 75.9% of BAME colleagues received a bonus
• 87% of White colleagues received a bonus
• 82.1% of not-declared colleagues received a bonus
• The median ethnicity bonus gap was 0%

The gender pay gap looks at the difference in the average pay of men and women. Because different jobs pay differently and the number of males and females performing these jobs varies, a gender pay gap is likely to exist in any organisation.

It is important to understand that there is a fundamental difference between ‘Gender Pay Gap’ and ‘Equal Pay’ - the latter is focused on whether males or females are paid the same for doing the same type of work.

A key outcome for the reporting requirements is for organisations to take accountability for looking at their own gap, to understand the reasons behind it and to work out how best to address these. It is also accepted that this is not an issue which can be solved overnight.

All organisations who are required to report (i.e. those employing over 250 employees) are required to calculate the gender pay gap in the same way and use the same terminology. The calculations are based on ‘median’ and ‘mean’ gaps and are reported in pay ‘quartiles’.

• Median - The ‘median’ gender pay gap is the difference in pay between female employee in the middle of their line and the male employee in the middle of their line
• Mean - The mean gender pay gap is simply the difference in average hourly rate of pay between men and women
• Pay quartiles - The salaries for all employees, male and female, are sorted by size and divided into equal quarters. The report shows the percentage of male and female employees in each quarter

Bonus payments are considered in the same way and are calculated independently from base salaries.

The Home Group results were taken as at 5 April 2020.

There’s no legal requirement for us to report on our ethnicity pay gap (although there’s been consultation from government which we are hopeful will change this) however we think it’s equally important to be clear where we stand on this and set an open, honest and transparent example which is why we’ve followed the gender pay gap reporting process for our ethnicity pay gap this year too.

All colleagues who were identified as being ‘relevant’ were included in the analysis, however contractors were not as the majority were not in scope according the reporting requirements and/or there was insufficient data available.

To improve and to combat our gender pay gap, we’re:

• Reporting our gender pay gap earlier to allow us to take targeted action sooner to reduce it;
• Helping women into more senior roles with our Women into Senior Leadership programme (32% of delegates worked to get a job more aligned to their career aspirations and/or promotion);
• Proud of the policies we have in place to combat any issues that disproportionately affect women, such as flexible working, time off for dependents, shared parental leave, and maternity / adoption / paternity; and
• Pleased to have launched a specific gender-based networking group – Lean In
  To combat our ethnicity pay gap, we’ve done the following:
• Signed up to the Race at Work Charter, including appointing an Executive Sponsor for race and implementing a range of measures to support ethnic minority career progression;
• Put learning and development in place for all colleagues around race bias, unconscious bias, and using inclusive and appropriate language;
• Used Workplace to consult with Multicultural colleagues, promote awareness and apply best practice as well as launching a Multicultural networking group; and
• Designed and launched our management and leadership programme for aspiring and existing managers which is dedicated to our multicultural colleagues.
  And things we’re doing that affect both measures (and others) include:
• Encouraging and supporting colleagues from underrepresented backgrounds to consider/take promotion opportunities through our Being Brilliant programme;
• Extending the Rooney rule to apply to female, multi-cultural, and disabled candidates when recruiting into senior roles;
• Promoting allyship
• Targeting recruitment plans to attract underrepresented groups into senior roles; and
• Monitoring internal data to identify relevant trends and hotspots.

Some of these things will make an impact quickly (it’s encouraging to see progress in reducing our gender pay gap over the past year) while others will take more time to be reflected in our report data.