Gender and ethnicity pay gap statements
Summary
The data in this statement is for WaterAid in the UK, effective 5 April 2024. It reports on our total UK workforce, including six colleagues working for WaterAid international, who meet the eligibility criteria as set out by the UK government. The gender pay gap shows the difference in average pay between men and women. The ethnicity pay gap shows the difference in average pay between those in the white/white British group and those in other ethnic groups.
Gender pay gap
As of 5 April 2024, WaterAid in the UK employed 73% women and 27% men. Men, on average (mean), earn 11.9% more than women.
On average, women earn more than men in all three levels in Grade 1. However, tenure has some impact, with more men being at the top of their discretionary zone in this grade.
The graph below shows the proportion of men and women in four quartiles, calculated by listing all employee hourly rates in order of highest to lowest and dividing the list into four equal quartiles.
At WaterAid in the UK, a greater proportion of men employed are in the higher quartiles compared to women, where a greater proportion are employed in the lower quartiles. This distribution contributes to our gender pay gap.
The distribution and small numbers drive the mean and median hourly rate higher for men. The inverse is true in the data for women, with more women in the lower three quartiles, the mean and median hourly rate for women is driven down.
Ethnicity pay gap
It is not yet a legal requirement to report on an ethnicity pay gap, but we are committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workforce. Of those employees eligible for the reporting, 17% have not provided ethnicity data or have stated a wish not to declare. We continue to encourage employees to submit their ethnicity data so that we can increase the validity of the data.
Our ethnicity pay gap is 8.9% on average (mean) and the mid-point (median) is 9.6%. Due to the limited data, small changes in personnel can swing the data set significantly. We will continue to review the data to fully understand the reasons for the gap.
Our commitments
We have taken a number of actions to address the gender and ethnicity gap. For example, hybrid working and ensuring jobs at all levels are flexible in terms of hours is now our standard approach, and we offer enhanced parental leave to encourage shared parental responsibilities.
We have also made progress in addressing prejudice and bias in our recruitment process with diversity and inclusion training for managers.
We will create a UK diversity, equality and empowerment action plan to further support in addressing the gender and ethnicity pay gap and other inequalities through an integrated approach. Additional focus areas for us will be:
- Improving opportunities for work – take action to attract socio-economic groups that may traditionally not apply for roles in our sector, leveraging our employee proposition.
- Reduce prejudice, bias in recruitment, promotion and pay – focus on internal consistency of recruitment, promotion and pay across gender and ethnicity.
- Report on our progress – we will analyse our data and report internally, so we are transparent with our workforce and hold ourselves to account.