Publishing organisation Penguin Random House has reported a mean ethnicity pay gap of 16% for average hourly pay as at April 2020.
The organisation published its first-ever ethnicity pay gap figures based on the 57% of employees that voluntarily disclosed their ethnicity. Unlike gender pay gap reporting, there is no legal obligation to publish these figures, but Penguin Random House has decided to benchmark this data to measure its progress.
Penguin Random House’s median ethnicity pay gap currently stands at 3.7%. On average, black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) employees earn 97p for every £1 that white staff earn.
When comparing the pay gap of different ethnicities, Penguin Random House reported a -15.5% median hourly pay gap for employees from Asian or Asian British backgrounds, a 23.6% gap for black or black British staff, a 20.5% gap for employees who identify to a different ethnicity to those detailed, and a 3% median gap for those that described themselves as mixed ethnicity.
The mean hourly gap for Asian or Asian British employees currently stands at 7.6%, rising to 30.5% for black or black British staff, 31.9% for those from different ethnicities listed, and 12.4% for employees of mixed ethnicity.
Its median ethnicity bonus gap currently stands at 11% and 66.1% for mean bonus pay. At Penguin Random House, 77.4% of Bame employees received a bonus, compared to 88.1% of non-Bame employees.
Less than one in 10 (9.8%) ethnic minorities currently work up the upper quartile band, 15.7% work in the upper middle quartile band, 13.7% make up the lower middle quartile band, and 14.1% make up the lower quartile band.
Val Garside, director of HR at Penguin Random House, said: “Our plan is to measure and track this data annually to measure the progression, retention and pay equity by demographic groups across our organisation. Of course, our ultimate ambition is for both our ethnicity hourly and bonus pay gaps to be at zero. The journey to getting to that point will take time, and might not have a direct trajectory.
“For us, publishing this report is not merely an end in itself, but an important tool to inform our future actions. By making this data transparent, we want to shine a spotlight on those areas in which more substantial intervention will help us to achieve our goal of representation in all teams and all levels, to ensure our pay decisions promote equity and to measure progress. It is for this reason that we also provide a breakdown of the pay gaps for the different groups making up our Bame employees.”