Utilities organisation Anglian Water has reported a mean gender pay gap of 5.7% for average hourly pay as at April 2020, down from 5.9% the previous year.
The organisation, which currently has more than 5,000 employees, reported its gender pay gap data in line with the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations.
The reporting regulations require employers 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 proportion of male and female employees awarded bonus payments, and the proportion 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, the organisation voluntarily chose to publish this data.
Anglian Water's median gender pay gap is 11.6% as at April 2020, compared to 11% the previous year. On average, women earn 88p compared to every £1 their male counterparts earn.
Its median gender pay gap for bonuses paid during the reporting period is 7.3% compared to last year, when the median bonus pay for women was 1.5% higher than men’s. The mean gender pay gap for bonus payments is 17.1%, compared to 22% the previous year.
Over the reporting period, 96.4% of female employees and 97.5% of male employees received bonus payments.
Just under one-third (30.5%) of employees in the highest pay quartile at Anglian Water are female, compared to 17.8% in the second quartile, 29.8% in the third quartile and 44.7% in the lowest pay quartile.
To further reduce the gap, Anglian Water has been increasing awareness of inclusion across the organisation, by providing an inclusive community enabling people to connect and collaborate to create positive change. So far, 100 employees have volunteered to be part of the inclusion community to tackle some of the challenges the employer is facing.
The organisation has also offered flexible working for most roles, which has sen a slight increase in take up for women working at the organisation.
In the introduction to the organisation's gender pay gap report 2020, Peter Simpson, chief executive, and Susannah Clements, group director of people at Anglian Water, said: "While employers do not have to report gender pay gaps this year, we believe it’s important to continue our focus on eliminating the gender pay gap, on living our value of doing the right thing and demonstrating our pledge of transparency and equality in the workplace.
"We are also working collaboratively with our external alliance partners, coming together monthly to understand best practices and share specific actions and results. This partnership has supported our participation within this year’s Inclusion Week. We are pleased with the progress made in the last 12 months and continue to work together to drive forward our inclusion strategy at all levels of the organisation."
