Little change in Pearson's gender pay gap figures

Pearson's latest headline figures for its gender pay gap show little change from the previous year's numbers, with the company saying "meaningful change takes time".

Pearson's overall median gender pay gap stood at 14% in the latest disclosure, which measures workforce pay for men and women as of April 2018. This is a 1% drop from the 15% figure cited last year. However the mean gender pay gap was unchanged year-on-year at 21%.

The median bonus pay gap had dropped from 18% to 12%, though the mean bonus pay gap still stood at 49% (52% in the previous year).

The company said that analysis of the data shows a gender pay gap exists at Pearson in Great Britain "primarily because fewer women have advanced into senior level roles" - a factor also cited in last year's report.

Chief human resources officer Anna Vikstrom Persson, reporting the results, noted: "This is not a surprise - we know it takes time and sustained effort to thoughtfully address gender diversity. We will collaborate with individuals and teams at all levels to combat implicit bias in our systems, processes and policies. Building an equitable workplace is a responsibility all employees must share."

In the 12 months since the first report was made, Pearson has increased the proportion of female new hires at director level and above who are women and hired a senior vice president of diversity and inclusion, it said. Other initiatives include establishing a Mentoring for Women in Leadership programme, and launching Board Mentoring for Women in Leadership, a 10-month programme providing female senior vice presidents with one-to one learning partnerships with a Pearson board member.  

"Meaningful change takes time and although more work needs to be done to close the gender pay gap, we are moving in the right direction," the report said.

Government legislation requires companies with 250 or more employees to report the median and mean percentage difference in hourly pay and average pay between men and women, along with the difference in bonus awards, on an annual basis. The median is the figure that falls in middle of all employees' salaries from lowest to highest paid, while the mean is calculated by dividing the total wages of a company by its number of staff.

Pearson's latest statistics include data across all its legal entities, including Pearson Education Limited and Pearson Professional Assessments, representing 79% of its total Great Britain workforce; its "significant" number of employees in Northern Ireland are not included.