In summary
This is the eighth year of national reporting on gender pay gap differences. We are pleased with the progress we have made over this time, but do not plan to rest on our laurels; we still have issues to tackle.
The national average pay gap, last reported in April 2023, is 14.3% (median). This year - for the second year in a row - Riverford's overall data, excluding bonus payments, shows no gap between the hourly pay of men and women, whether calculated in terms of median or mean.
We have managed to maintain this position by ensuring that pay bandings are fairly designed and applied. We advertise vacancies with transparent pay to avoid room for negotiation, which tends to result in a bias towards men. Where possible, we offer a variety of flexible working options to meet individual needs.
Although these practices continue to support our aspiration to build a fair, diverse, and inclusive Riverford, there are still areas for improvement. These will be a focus in the coming years. Notably, we need to attract, develop, and retain more women, and to appoint more women to senior roles, particularly within our middle and senior management levels. Progress in this area over the last five years has been disappointing, with the percentages of women at our senior levels being stagnant, and at middle management tiers having reduced.
When we look at pay data including bonuses (defined as our co-owner profit share and commission payments to our customer sales teams), we do see that our gender pay gap has increased - from 1% median, 10.5% mean last year, to 6% median, 27% mean this year. The main driver of this difference is the higher number of men in our sales team (the only team within Riverford to receive commission or performance-related pay).
Below, we analyse how we have addressed the previous gender pay gap, and show where we still have work to do to fulfil our ambition of creating an outstanding place to work for all. In particular we must create an environment where women can progress within our business, offer equitable access to opportunity, and remove the barriers that still exist.
How is the gender pay gap calculated?
The gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women, taking account of all employees, with salaries converted to an hourly rate.
Mean and median explained
Mean - the mean is found by adding all numbers in the data set and then dividing by the number of values in the set.
Median - the middle number in a set of data - i.e. if you line up the pay of every co-owner, the median is the one in the middle.
How many men and women are in each pay quartile?
How have we kept our gender pay gap at zero, and where do we still have work to do?
Over the last year we have continued, and improved, the positive practices we have in place. This includes:
- Advertising roles with transparent salaries.
- Reviewing job descriptions to avoid using gender-coded wording.
- Talking openly with candidates about working flexibly.
- Carrying out impartial benchmarking processes when reviewing pay.
- Encouraging internal applications for new roles and supporting development.
However, a significant and continuing challenge for us is that we have more men than women in management and senior roles (as well as having more men in the workplace as a whole):
- In April 2023, at the time this data was collected, we had 283 female co-owners and 681 male co-owners, with a gender split of 29% female and 71% male. This is a slightly larger male bias than the year before.
- Even though we have more women in our lower quartile roles, we have not managed to attract or promote enough women to make these improvements in the upper quartile roles. This suggests that there are some barriers to the progression of women in the business that we need to address.
- We have had a dip in female representation across the middle quartiles, suggesting that we have stepped backwards in attracting and promoting women into these roles.
The other significant factor in the pay gap, which shows when bonuses are included, is the effect of what are categorised as 'bonuses'. The calculations take into account two different types of ‘bonus': the annual co-owner profit share paid to most co-owners, and the sales commission scheme relevant only to our customer sales teams:
- In the year which this report covers, all co-owners were eligible for a 15% share of our profits. The amount paid is an equal share irrespective of your role or salary within Riverford. For those working part time, the profit share is paid pro rata, and the pay gap is therefore impacted by the higher proportion of women in part-time roles.
- The only co-owners receiving commission are those in our customer sales teams - we do not operate performance-related pay or bonuses for any other roles. However, we have a significantly low proportion of female co-owners in this team.
What actions are we continuing to undertake on gender pay issues?
We have made significant progress on improving our culture and values to make Riverford a better and more inclusive workplace overall, and a more attractive workplace to women in particular. But we have more to do.
To drive further improvements, we are intensifying our focus on developing leadership skills across the business. All co-owners will receive support in their career progression, which will, in turn, offer opportunities for pay enhancement through advancement.
Specific actions include:
- All managers are taking part in a leadership development program, which incorporates inclusive leadership and diversity throughout.
- Managers have committed to maintaining team learning and development plans, built on the development needs and aspirations of the entire team.
- We continue to support managers through recruitment processes, ensuring best practices such as gender-neutral panels to overcome any unconscious biases.
- A Senior Face-to-Face Sales Rep role has been created, to provide opportunities for growth and development within this team.
- We are further promoting the transparency of pay bandings, our wider policies, and the benefits we offer. This includes offering more flexible working options, particularly in senior and management roles.
- We continue our commitment to the Real Living Wage, which affects the teams with the highest female representation.
Our Remuneration Committee continues to be influential in important areas. It challenges anomalies in pay, and it strongly supports our continuing commitment, even in challenging economic times, to being a Real Living Wage employer.
