WaterAid Gender Pay Gap statements in previous years

WaterAid's Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Statement 2022

Summary

The data (both gender and ethnicity) in this statement is for WaterAid in the UK, effective 5 April 2022. It reports on WaterAid’s total UK workforce. 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 or white British group and those in other ethnic groups.

Gender pay gap 

As of 5 April 2022, WaterAid in the UK was 70% women and 30% men.  Our gap shows that men, on average (mean), earn 13.4% more than women. The midpoint of all hourly rates (the median) shows that men earn 12.5% more than women.  

The graph below shows the proportion of men and women in 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, men tend to be employed in the more senior roles, whereas there is a greater spread of women across all quartiles.

A chart showing WaterAid's gender and ethnicity pay gap 2022

The distribution of women and men in our workforce contributes to our gender pay gap. Our workforce is dominated by women and, proportionally, we have fewer men employed in junior roles and more men in senior roles.

Ethnicity pay gap

As a global organisation, we are proud of the rich diversity of our staff across the many countries in which we work.  In the UK, it is not yet a legal requirement to report on ethnicity pay gaps. However, we have chosen to do so in line with our commitment to transparency and as we strive to create an inclusive and diverse UK workforce. Of those UK employees eligible for the reporting, 17% have not provided ethnicity data, 18% identify within an ethnic minority group and 65% identify as white/white British. We continue to encourage employees to submit their ethnicity data so that we can increase the validity of the data set.  

Our UK ethnicity pay gap is 4.49% on average (mean) and the mid-point (median) is -0.64%. Whilst today there is limited external sector data against which this can be compared, it is encouraging that this is below 5% and, in the case of the median gap, this is inverse. We will continue to track and review the data to fully understand the reasons.  

Our commitments 

We are committed to fairness and transparency in managing the salaries of staff. We have a Global Reward Standard that is used to ensure consistency of reward principles across all WaterAid countries.  

We use job evaluation to determine the scale and complexity of all our jobs. This enables us to consistently benchmark our roles externally, using a range of data. Our salaries and benefits are ‘market-driven’, which means we aim to pay salaries that are similar to those of staff doing similar roles in similar organisations. We have salary ranges that enable flexibility to attract, develop and retain our staff.

We signed the Show The Salary pledge for UK based roles and publish ranges internally to ensure transparency and accessibility.

We seek to recruit the best person for the role, ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do the job and help us to achieve our mission. We encourage flexible working and seek to develop and progress our staff internally.   

In the last year we have integrated our action plan for gender, ethnicity and disability for WaterAid in the UK. We have used the Fair Opportunities For All strategy from the Equality and Human Rights Commission as a framework and our key actions are identified in the following areas:

  1. Develop our apprenticeship scheme –  we now apply the London Living Wage to our apprenticeship scheme.
  2. Improving opportunities for work – we recently launched an internal global opportunities hub and have moved to a single pay scale for each grade in the UK, regardless of office base. Through targeted approaches we are making progress to addressing gender in-balances in particular parts of the organisation.
  3. Making jobs at all levels flexible – almost all of our UK roles are open to flexibility in terms of hours and hybrid working.
  4. Encouraging men and women to share childcare responsibilities – in 2022 we updated our special leave policy and launched a new childcare benefits provider. We are seeking to review our full set of family policies in 2023.
  5. Reduce prejudice, bias in recruitment, promotion and pay – we have made some improvements on our processes around recruitment, and will do more in 22/23, including reviewing where and how we advertise.
  6. Report on progress – we report both internally and externally on our data.

Tim Wainwright 
Chief Executive, WaterAid UK October 2022

WaterAid's Gender Pay Gap Statement 2021

The gender pay gap shows the difference in average pay between men and women nationally or within a sector or organisation.

The data that we are reporting for WaterAid in the UK is effective as at 5 April 2021. WaterAid’s total UK workforce, located in London and UK regional offices, at this date was 67% women and 33% men.  

Our data 

Our gap shows that men, on average (mean), earn 12.1% more than women. The midpoint of all hourly rates when listed in order (the median) shows that men earn 11.3% more than women. 

We are required to show the proportion of men and women in each quartile pay band. This is calculated by listing all employee hourly rates in order of highest to lowest and dividing the list into four equal quartiles.

This graph highlights that men at WaterAid in the UK tend to be employed in the more senior roles, whereas there is a greater spread of women across all quartiles.

Chart showing percentage of men and women  by quartile April 2021

We believe that the distribution of women and men in our workforce contributes to our gender pay gap. We have a workforce dominated by women and, proportionally, we have fewer men employed in junior roles and more men in senior roles, whereas we have greater spread of women across all our grades.

Our commitments

We are committed to fairness and transparency in managing the salaries of staff. We have a Global Reward Standard that is used to ensure consistency of reward principles across all WaterAid countries.  

We use a process of job evaluation to determine the scale and complexity of all our jobs. This enables us to consistently benchmark our roles externally, using a range of data. Our salaries and benefits are ‘market-driven’, which means we aim to pay salaries that are similar to those of staff doing similar roles in similar organisations.

We have salary ranges that enable flexibility to attract, develop and retain our staff. We publish these ranges internally to ensure all communications to staff about pay are transparent, accessible and clear.  

We seek to recruit the best person for the role ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do the job and help us to achieve our mission. We encourage flexible working and seek to develop and progress our staff internally.   

Last year we identified the following actions to address our gender pay gap in the UK:

  1. Further developing flexible and agile working opportunities created through our office move and in response to the pandemic.  
  2. Supporting diversity and inclusion through our learning and development programmes. 
  3. Developing our recruitment methods to attract a wider diversity of candidates. 
  4. A more in-depth look at reward for grades where the gender pay gap is highest. 

All actions have started with action 4 completed. This year we will continue to drive actions across 1,2 and 3 as these continue to be relevant and important. We will also:

  1. Create an integrated plan using, as a framework, the report ‘Fair Opportunities for all - A strategy to reduce pay gaps in Britain’ by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
  2. Review, amend and add to our existing family friendly policies to encourage men and women to share childcare responsibilities.

Tim Wainwright 
Chief Executive, WaterAid UK 
October 2021

2020

The gender pay gap shows the difference in average pay between men and women nationally or within a sector or organisation.

The data that we are reporting for WaterAid in the UK is effective as at 5 April 2020. WaterAid’s total UK workforce at this date, located in London and UK regional offices, was 65% women and 35% men.

Our data 

As of 5 April 2020, our mean (average) pay gap in the UK was 11.4% and our median (the middle) pay gap was 10.9%. Our gender pay gap shows that men, on average, earn 11.4% more than women, and when the midpoints of all hourly rates are listed in order, men earn 10.9% more than women.

The graph below shows WaterAid’s UK gender pay gap compared to data for the UK from the Office for National Statistics (April 2019). Our mean and median pay gaps have both reduced this year and remain significantly below the national average.

WaterAid's UK gender pay gap compared to the UK national average April 2020

By listing all employee hourly rates in order of highest to lowest and dividing the list into four equal quartiles, we can calculate the proportion of men and women in each quartile pay band. 

Percentage of women and men by quartile April 2020

The graph above shows that men at WaterAid in the UK tend to be employed in the more senior roles, whereas there is a greater spread of women across all quartiles.

Although we have more women than men at WaterAid, of the men employed a greater proportion are in senior roles and fewer in junior roles, while women are employed across all grades. We believe this is a significant contribution to our gender pay gap.

Our commitments 

We are committed to fairness and transparency in managing the salaries of our staff. We have a Global Reward Standard that we use to ensure consistency of pay principles across all WaterAid countries and offices.  

We use a rigorous job evaluation process to determine the scale and complexity of all our jobs. This enables us to consistently benchmark our roles externally, using a range of data, and ensure we provide equal pay for work of equal value. Our salaries and benefits are ‘market-driven’, which means we aim to pay salaries that are similar to those of staff doing similar roles in similar organisations.

We have salary ranges that enable flexibility to attract, develop and retain our staff. We publish these ranges internally to ensure information about pay is transparent, accessible and clear for all staff.  

We seek to recruit the best person for the role ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do the job and help us to achieve our mission. We encourage flexible working and seek to develop and progress our staff internally.   

Our gender pay gap is similar to other organisations in our sector, though we are actively looking for opportunities to close this gap. This year we were recognised as fifth in the 2020 UK Best Workplaces™ for Women (large organisations category), one of only 20 organisations reaching the criteria set by Great Place to Work®. This helps us to continue to retain and attract talented women to WaterAid, including those at senior levels. This recognition from Great Place to Work® means that WaterAid is a great place to work for both men and women and that there is a strong sense of trust, fairness and wellbeing in the workplace. This only strengthens our commitments and will continue to do so.

In the last year, we’ve improved options for flexible working and supported staff and managers to think about flexibility in different ways. We continue to review this to ensure we take an integrated approach, that all roles are attractive to women, and that we avoid any potential unconscious bias in our recruitment or career development.

WaterAid is seeking to address its gender pay gap in the UK by: 

  • Further developing flexible and agile working opportunities created through our recent office move and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Developing our recruitment methods further to attract a wider diversity of candidates.
  • A more in depth look at pay for grades where the gender pay gap is highest.


Tim Wainwright 

Chief Executive, WaterAid UK 
December 2020
 

2019 

The gender pay gap shows the difference in average pay between men and women nationally or within a sector or organisation.

The data that we are reporting for WaterAid in the UK is effective as at 5 April 2019. WaterAid’s total UK workforce, located in London and UK Regional Offices, at this date was 67% female and 33% male.

Our data [1]

The graph below illustrates our gender pay gap. Our gap shows that men, on average (mean), earn 12% more than women. The midpoint of all hourly rates when listed in order (the median) shows that men earn 13.5% more than women.

The graph below outlines WaterAid UK’s gender pay gap in comparison to data for the UK from the Office for National Statistics.

The graph outlines WaterAid UK’s gender pay gap in comparison to data for the UK from the Office for National Statistics.

We are required to show the proportion of males and females in each quartile pay band. This is calculated by listing all employee hourly rates in order of highest to lowest, and dividing the list into four equal quartiles.
 

This graph highlights that men at WaterAid in the UK tend to be employed in more senior roles, whereas there is a greater spread of women across all quartiles.

This graph highlights that men at WaterAid in the UK tend to be employed in more senior roles, whereas there is a greater spread of women across all quartiles.

We believe that the distribution of our female and male workforce contributes to our gender pay gap. We have a female dominated workforce and, proportionally, we have fewer men employed in junior roles and more men in senior roles, whereas we have a greater spread of women across all our grades.

Our commitments

We are committed to fairness and transparency in managing the salaries of staff. We have a Global Reward Standard that is used to ensure consistency of reward principles across all WaterAid offices.

We use a process of job evaluation to determine the scale and complexity of all our jobs. The evaluation outcome of a role enables us to consistently benchmark our roles externally, using a range of data. Our salaries and benefits are ‘market-driven’, which means we aim to pay salaries that are similar to those of staff doing similar roles in similar organisations.

We have salary ranges that enable flexibility to attract, develop and retain our staff. We publish these ranges internally to ensure that all communications to staff about pay are transparent, accessible and clear.

We seek to recruit the best person for the role ensuring they have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do the job and help us to achieve our mission. We encourage flexible working and seek to develop and progress our staff internally. 

WaterAid is seeking to address its gender pay gap in the UK by:

  1. Developing and rolling out a new flexible working framework to enhance opportunity for all
  2. Advertising roles ‘open to flexibility’ to attract a greater range and diversity of candidates
  3. Reviewing our salary offer approach.

Tim Wainwright
Chief Executive, WaterAid UK
February 2020