Diageo has revealed that women working for the company in England and Wales earn on average 9.8% more than men, as it aims to become the best employer for women in the UK.
The figures form part of the beverage company’s Gender Pay Gap Report. Diageo ranked third in the 2017 Hampton Alexander Review FTSE 100 for Women on Boards and in Leadership.
In Great Britain the company has two legal entities which employ more than 4,500 people: Diageo Great Britain (England and Wales), and Diageo Scotland.
The company has a median pay gap of +8.6% for Diageo employees across both legal entities in Great Britain – meaning men earn on average 8.6% more than women – lower than the median across the country of 18.8%.
The Diageo Scotland business has a median pay gap of +16.7%. This is said to be driven by a large number of manufacturing roles, which struggle to attract women in part due to unsociable shift patterns. Diageo said that the other driver of the pay gap is that there are fewer women at senior levels, which it is working to resolve.
In April 2018, Diageo’s board of directors will reach gender parity, when Ursula Burns starts her role as non-executive director. The company said that 40% of its global executive committee are women and more than 30% of its global senior leadership team are women.
In a statement, the company said: “Achieving gender equality and developing a strong, talented pipeline of future female leaders underpins our firm belief that a more diverse and inclusive workforce accelerates business growth.”
Diageo human resources director Mairéad Nayager said: “I am proud of the progress we are making at Diageo with gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation and want us to go further. Creating a truly diverse and inclusive culture is not only the right thing to do, it supports the success of our company.
As it aims to lower the gender pay gap, Diageo said it is providing training and mentoring for women at all stages of their careers to support their development as leaders.
It is also also identifying opportunities in Scotland, including creating scholarships for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students to support leadership development through its Women and Leadership in Supply programme.
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