Retail business Dunelm has reported a mean gender pay gap of 18% for average hourly pay as at April 2019.
The organisation, which currently has over 9,000 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.
Dunelm’s median gender pay gap for fixed hourly pay is 7.6%, as at April 2019. On average, women earn 92p compared to every £1 their male counterparts earn.
Its median gender pay gap for bonuses paid during the reporting period is 46.8%; which is an increase on the 36% gap in 2018. The mean gender pay gap for bonus payments is 43.3%, compared to 59% the year before.
Over the reporting period, 47.9% of female employees and 40.7% of male employees received bonus payments.
Over half (52%) of employees in the highest pay quartile at Dunelm are female, compared to 66.7% in the second quartile, 72.5% in the third quartile and 76% in the lowest pay quartile.
William Reeve, chair of the remuneration committee at Dunelm, said: "Our Board now comprises four women and six men, and our executive board has five women to three men. However, the gender pay gap report which we published in April showed a widening of the gap on both the median and mean measures. This widening was caused primarily by an increase in the size of our Technology (IT) team; these colleagues are relatively highly paid, and this function is historically predominantly male.
"We are continuing to take a long term approach to addressing the barriers that prevent women from reaching senior, higher paid roles (by holding an 'Empowering Female Leaders', a 'Women in Tech' event, introducing a flexible holiday entitlement for example). We are also looking at how we can address any diversity 'gaps', to ensure that we are recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent."
