Ovo Energy reports mean gender pay gap of 20.1%

Ovo Energy reports mean gender pay gap of 20.1%

Energy organisation Ovo Energy has reported a mean gender pay gap of 20.1% for average hourly pay as at April 2019.

The organisation, which currently has over 2,000 employees, reported its gender pay gap data in line with the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations.

The reporting regulations require organisations with 250 or more employees to publish the differences in mean and median hourly rates of pay for male and female full-time employees, the gap in men and women’s mean and median bonus pay, the proportions of male and female employees awarded bonus pay, and the proportions of male and female full-time employees in the lower, lower-middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands.

Due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, gender pay gap reporting regulations have been suspended for the 2019/2020 reporting period, however, some organisations have chosen to do so voluntarily.

Ovo Energy’s median gender pay gap is 9.6%, as at April 2019. On average, women earn 90p compared to every £1 their male counterparts earn.

Its median gender pay gap for bonuses paid during the reporting period is 14.7%; which is a decrease on the 19.7% gap in 2018. The mean gender pay gap for bonus payments is 28.6%, compared to 26% the year before.

Over the reporting period, 87.5% of female employees and 84.3% of male employees received bonus payments.

Over a quarter (26%) of employees in the highest pay quartile at Ovo Energy are female, compared to 42% in the second quartile, 44% in the third quartile and 44% in the lowest pay quartile.

Adrian Letts, chief executive at Ovo Retail, said: “We’re aware of our gender pay gap and feel passionate about being an inclusive place to work. This year we celebrated International Women’s Day and hosted a panel session around the theme ‘Equality needs everyone’. This was streamed live across all offices, giving our team an important update on the powerful women pledge: our commitment to increasing women’s representation in leadership.

“Across Ovo Energy, our goal is to increase the number of women who work in technology. So far this year we’ve exceeded our target of 15%, with women being 21% of new hires, and the number of women in technology and leadership positions has also increased. We put this result down to the way we’ve checked for gender-biased language within our revamped recruitment process. While these changes may seem small, they’re helping us reach our 20% female tech talent goal by 2025, so they’re really important.”