Gender pay gap in corporates deteriorates

Abstract

THE gender pay gap is higher than the national average at all eight major veterinary corporates. Topping the list in the pay comparison table (see box overleaf) is Goddard Veterinary Group (GVG) – one of the smaller corporates (with under 500 employees) – where female staff earn 50p for every £1 that male staff earn. Second on the list is Independent Vetcare (IVC), which has more than 500 practices, and has the widest pay gap of any UK company of this size. Analysis also shows that at some corporates the gap between average hourly earnings for men and women has widened since the first set of pay gap data was made public last year. At Medivet, for example, the gap between what men and women earned on average (median) across the business as a whole grew from 28 per cent in 2017/18 to 38 per cent in 2018/19. The data were published online on the UK government website earlier this month. Under legislation introduced in April 2017, all UK employers with 250 or more employees are required to publish data about their gender pay gap. The scheme is designed to boost transparency and encourage a better balance at different levels (quartiles) of organisations. The figures do not directly compare pay rates for men and women doing work of equal value and so cannot be taken as evidence of unequal pay. However, examination of the median value allows for comparison between a theoretical middle ranking woman and her theoretical male counterpart. GVG said its salary structure pays no regard to the gender of staff so rewards women and men who are working in similar roles equally, adding that the causes of its gender pay gap are ‘complex’. The company said it was exploring ‘all areas’ in a bid to improve matters. It also explained that a ‘very high proportion’ of the veterinary profession’s nursing and reception staff are female and this skewed the average, since they earned less than vets. ‘57 per cent of our male employees are vets, whereas only 17 per cent of our female employees are vets,’ said GVG. ‘The practice would welcome more male nurses and receptionists and would encourage men to apply to either train or be employed by us in the future.’ Medivet’s chief executive Arnold Levy said using the same data to calculate the mean rather than the median indicated the gap had actually narrowed at the company. However, he acknowledged that ‘there is still work to do’ and said Medivet was working to ‘reduce any disparities.’ IVC chief executive David Hillier summed up the view of many corporates when he said there was a ‘simple explanation for the overall average pay differences – there is a lack of male veterinary nurses, veterinary care assistants and receptionists in this sector.’ He added: ‘Within each quartile and job type, we are confident that our reward structure is based on factors such as experience, performance, profitability of the practice, geographical location and not gender. The data do not mean that male employees are paid more than female employees for the same job in the same location.’ CVS chief executive Simon Innes responded similarly: ‘In line with the sector, our UK workforce is made up of a high proportion of female veterinary nurses, patient care assistants and receptionists. ‘By contrast our senior employees – therefore the highest paid – are male. These factors combined significantly influence our gender pay and bonus gaps.’ He added that the company had been working to address this. Using CVS data to analyse solely vet nursing salaries, it shows the pay gap is -15 per cent, meaning women are on average paid 15 per cent more than men. This is due to the fact that there is a small proportion of men in vet nursing roles and they tend to have entered the profession more recently. The median gender pay gap among all employees – both fulland part-time – across all organisations in the UK stands at 17.9 per cent. Looking solely at vets, however, the average gap is 2.6 per cent nationally, according to the Office for National Statistics. Of the eight major corporates, only Pets at Home, which owns The data do not mean that male employees are paid more than female employees for the same job in the same location Gender pay gap in corporates deteriorates