We're pleased to announce that our median pay gap has remained at 0% and our mean gender pay gap has reduced vs last year's report, remaining significantly below the national average.
As an employer of more than 250 staff, Royal Holloway Students’ Union has undertaken Gender Pay Gap Reporting, as required by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations 2017).
We are pleased to report that the Students' Union has a 0% median pay gap, and a mean pay gap of 3.1%, which is significantly less than the UK average of 16.1% when reviewing the whole staff team. We are also proud of the fact that we have a good representation of female workers within our senior and middle management posts.
While a mean pay gap of 3.1% is a positive move towards gender equality in pay, it is important to understand the context behind the figures, which is outlined in the report. The data outlined relates to a snapshot period (the requirement of the regulations) from April 2021 for permanent staff and the 12 weeks prior to 5 April 2021 for casual staff.
The Covid context
The snapshot data used for this report only includes 105 staff records, as at the time the majority of the student staff (who commonly make up 89% of the workforce) were unable to work shifts due to the covid-19 pandemic and restrictions in place on hospitality. The gender pay analysis has been prepared and will be published as usual, but should be evaluated with the context that it includes a very different mix of staff in the data set than previously reported.
Equal pay vs gender pay gap
It is important to note the difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. Gender pay gap reporting shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in the workforce.
So why do we have a gender pay gap?
We’re confident that our gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently. Rather our gender pay gap is the result of the following:
- A student staff workforce that is predominantly female and reflective of the demographic of the university.
- A line management level that is predominantly female, and so results in a positive gender pay gap here in favour of females.
- Any organisation with a structure of a Chief Executive leading a Senior Management Team will inevitably have some difference in gendered pay at the 100th percentile, unless the most senior post is held jointly by one male and one female.
- As an employer, RHSU provides a number of optional salary sacrifice schemes to the permanent staff team, individual choice can therefore result in a gender pay gap even when the Chief Executive post is held jointly by one male and one female that are offered equal remuneration in return.
In order for there to be no gender pay gap, there would need to be an identical distribution of males and females across all roles.
To ensure fairness and transparency we have a number of policies and processes in place around pay and recruitment that include:
- All casual staff are paid a fixed hourly wage irrespective of gender.
- All permanent staff are recruited to roles that have been through job evaluation, and sit within a defined salary scale, to ensure a fair structure.
- We have a pay policy in place with incremental increases to pay on an annual basis.
Our next steps
As an organisation committed to equality we will continue to ensure that recruitment practices are transparent and fair, and that female employees do not face any barriers to recruitment or promotion.
We are mindful that a permanent CEO appointment will be made with a start date of August 2022, which will influence gender pay gap figures given that it is at this level that our gender pay gap has historically prevailed.
We will continue to ensure that all of our roles go through a rigorous job evaluation process which results in the right grading and pay level, irrespective of who is or may be in the role.
If you would like to read the full report you can do so below.
Download the report