Retailer Carpetright has reported a mean gender pay gap for 2022 of 7%.
This was less than the UK and retail averages of 13.9% and 13.5% respectively. Carpetright’s median pay gap was 5.5%, lower than the UK and retail averages of 14.9% and 8.5% respectively.
Its mean bonus pay gap for 2022 was 37.7% and its median bonus pay gap was 42.9%. A total of 86% of men and 77% of women received a bonus last year, while 93% of men and 98% of women were eligible to receive one.
The Carpetright workforce was made up of 68% of male and 32% of female employees in 2022.
According to the business, its gender pay gap can be attributed to a much higher number of men than women across all levels of the organisation, 39% of female staff working part-time compared to 17% of men, shortages in some areas of specialist skills driving up salaries during recruitment, and its IT and digital departments being more male dominated in terms of applicants and appointments.
Its bonus gap was due to some seasonal bonus payments being awarded to its warehouse staff, largely made up of men, to encourage retention during its peak distribution period.
Nick Worthington, managing director of CarpetRight, said: “As we anticipated, post-pandemic, our headline numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels, which better reflects the ongoing work to close the gender pay gap in our business. For the fourth year in succession our overall male/female split has improved, and we are proud of this. So too, with the second year of increase in the proportion of females in leadership roles.
“On a further positive note, I’m pleased to report that we remain ahead of the UK national average and the sector national average for both mean and median gender pay gaps.”
