University of Reading’s new approach to addressing gender pay gap

While our latest gender pay gap figures are a source for some optimism, they continue to highlight a need for change.

Our mean and median average gender pay gaps have reduced to 19.4% (compared to 22.1% in 2021) and 18.7% (down from 25.4%) respectively. However the difference between the average pay for our male and female employees remains a concern.

The fact the reduction in the average pay gap figures only really reverses a spike seen during the Covid pandemic shows that a fresh approach is needed to make genuine progress. I am pleased to say, therefore, that we have put in place some actions aimed at delivering a positive impact over the next two to three years.

New analysis and reporting processes will enable us to more proactively monitor the impact of these actions and provide updates for our staff at points during the year rather than in a single annual report, as previously.

Greater transparency

For background, as a large public sector organisation we are required to calculate our gender pay gap every year based on a snapshot on 31 March. This is a complex, manual process and the figures must be reported to the UK Government within 12 months.

Under our new approach we plan to:
Focus on our new gender pay gap figure within a few months of the snapshot date, rather than waiting until it is a year old. This is thanks to having implemented improved processes to make the calculations, but also due to a desire to be more front-footed and transparent on this issue.
Convene a group of colleagues from HR and senior leadership in May to review the data and consider and develop actions for the next two or three years.
Consider further actions, including avoiding male-only shortlists for vacancies wherever possible, using more data to better understand the impact of occupational segregation, and addressing factors that influence women’s career progression, particularly on return from family leave.
As ever, our gender pay gap numbers should not be confused with equal pay. We of course have robust processes in place to meet the legal requirement to pay men and women equally for doing the same work. Gender pay gaps reflect the average pay across all male and all female staff at an organisation and are often fuelled by occupational segregation – where certain roles often contain higher numbers of women or men.

Our numbers reflect the fact that, unlike other universities, we directly employ the majority of our staff, including those in many lower-paid roles. We also include students working through Campus Jobs in our gender pay gap calculation. The majority of Campus Jobs workers have tended to be female in recent years, and by nature Campus Jobs roles are lower-paid, which increases our mean and median figures by 3-4%.

This means that holding up our statistics next to those of other universities is not a fair comparison. We always make this point because it is important context, but the fact is we still have a significant gender pay gap even when these factors are excluded, so what really matters is what we do about that.

Recent progress

Actions already taken to address our gender pay gap include increasing focus on flexible working and job-share arrangements in senior roles, improving guidance on starting salaries and equal selection processes, and supporting more women to gain promotions through development programmes, while also understanding the barriers to women progressing to senior roles and working to overcome these.

The ratio of female professors and associate professors at Reading has increased to 37% (from 36.7%) and 53.2% (from 51.2%). We are pleased to say that Reading has 5% more women associate professors than the sector average and we will continue to proactively pursue our target of a sex-balanced professoriate with at least 45% of professors of either sex.

Engagement with the Staff Forum over the gender pay gap has increased during the past year and it recently hosted a discussion session to increase wider staff engagement on the issue.

As UEB Champion for Sex Equality and a proud supporter of the University’s Women@Reading staff network, I am committed to having frank conversations about challenges facing women, and this will include the gender pay gap under this new approach.

There is a lot we can do to improve, and I look forward to updating you all on this new approach we are taking.