Penguin Random House UK sees its gender pay gap fall

Penguin Random House UK’s pay gender pay gaps have dropped, with the median gender pay gap decreasing by 4% in 2023, reaching 0.8%, the closest it has been to zero since reporting started in 2017. The mean gender pay gap saw a 2.7% decrease, dropping from 12.3% to 9.6%. The result is down to the increased proportion of women in leadership and highest earning roles, as well as a rise in the proportion of men in the lower pay quartile, the company said.

According to PRH UK, the gender balance is “almost equal” in its leadership team — which comprises 44% men and 56% women — and the company’s top 100 earners. However, with fewer men than women in roles below this level, the pay gap persists. 

The publisher also reported on its socio-economic background pay gap, which by contrast has increased, with the mean up by 4.9% to 27.5%, while the median gap has increased by 7.8% to 31.1%. This gap is in part due to the fact that there are more people from lower socio-economic backgrounds in lower paid roles within the company, PRH said. There are more than four times the number of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the lower pay quartile — a significant increase since 2022. By contrast, the upper quartile and the upper middle quartile comprise 86.7% and 80.2% colleagues from higher socio-economic backgrounds, respectively.

“While we are disappointed to see this pay gap increase, our goal is to reflect UK society in every pay quartile (39% lower socio-economic status) and we’re pleased to see positive increases in three of our four pay quartiles,” the company said in the report. “We know it will take time to achieve representation at all levels, and some of the actions we take to achieve this will increase our pay gaps in the short term.”

The report added: “For example, the majority of our vacancies are at entry and early career level and therefore our focus on hiring more colleagues from lower socio-economic backgrounds means we see more significant shifts in our lower and lower middle pay quartiles where these roles are found.”

Meanwhile the company’s ethnicity gap reduced in 2023, with the mean ethnicity pay gap decreasing by 4.1% to 13.8%, and the median ethnicity pay gap down from 14.7% to 8.1%. The reason why this pay gap still exists, according to the report, is because there are still fewer Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in senior roles within the company, despite the fact that there has been an increase in the number of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people working for the company overall. The proportions have shifted in the past year, which explains the improvements in the mean and median, but fully addressing this gap will take time. 

The company’s disability pay gap has stayed static overall (mean at 18.6%, median 20.4%)  while the sexual orientation pay gap has reduced, with representation of LGBTQ+ individuals increasing in the top two pay quartiles. 

“We are pleased to see greater representation among colleagues at all levels in our business, although we see a particular positive shift among our entry level and early career roles where the majority of our vacancies occur,” said Val Garside, HR director at PRH UK. “Supporting the retention and promotion of underrepresented talent across all levels of the company is fundamental to reaching our overall goal of representation at all levels, and therefore closing our pay gaps. A priority now is to further develop everyone’s ability to support and build inclusive team cultures, accelerate development of underrepresented talent and maximise career development opportunities.”