We’re working to ensure that the talents and resources of our employees are utilised to the full.

Gender Pay 2017

Our gender pay gap – lower than the national rate

In Wolseley UK the women’s mean hourly rate is lower than that paid to men by 2.38%.  The median gap is 0.91%.

In William Wilson the women’s mean hourly rate is lower than that paid to men by 3.32%.  They are paid 2.20% more than men at the median.

This is much lower than both the national rate  and the indicative average for the retail industry. It is no accident that we have achieved this. 

For example

Our minimum branch pay rates are 30 pence more than the National Living Wage, and we review our rates two months ahead of the legislative requirement.

Colleagues under 25 years’ old are paid our full adult pay rate, rather than the lower tier permitted under the National Living Wage.

New starters are immediately paid at the full rate for their role, rather than a reduced probationary rate.

An effective grading structure and disciplined pay management ensures consistency across our distributed business operations.

Our gender bonus gap – more to do

The proportion of men in Wolseley UK paid a bonus was 91.5% compared to 89.7% of women.  In William Wilson 82.3% of men and 77.8% of women received bonus pay.

In Wolseley UK the mean bonus gap between males and females was 21.88%.  The median was 47.67%.

At William Wilson where a bonus was paid women were awarded 10.16% more than men at the mean level.  At the median women were paid 44.63% less.

Our approach to employee reward is gender neutral by design.  So, we are confident that any gaps between males and female pay and bonus are driven by the structure of our workforce.  We have fewer women in senior roles, and the majority of these are based in our head office, where over the last few years bonus schemes have paid out at minimal levels. We also have fewer women in our sales and branch management roles where bonus is a core part of remuneration.  When structural factors such as these are removed differences in reward can be largely explained by individual performance, experience and skill sets.

Salary quartiles – we’re making progress

The legislation requires us to identify our overall pay range, divide this into equally sized quartiles and populate these with the numbers of men and women employees in each quartile.

 

Wolseley UK 

 

 

 percentage of men

percentage of women 

Q1

 82.8%

17.2%

Q2

76.4%

23.6% 

Q3

77.3%

22.7%

Q4

82.7%

 17.3%

 

William Wilson

 

 

percentage of men

percentage of women

Q1

74.1%

25.9%

Q2

76.3%

23.7%

Q3

69.0%

31.0%

Q4

75.9%

24.1%

 

We are trying to improve the male:female ratio across the organisation. However, we operate in what is still a male dominated sector and it will take time for good intentions to become a reality.

The majority of our lower quartile roles are based in our branches and distribution centres, whilst most female employees are in Q2 and Q3. We are delighted to be able to report that the gender balance of our UK Leadership Team has improved over the last two years; in November 2015 it had a male/female ratio of 89:12 and today it is 64:36. We believe that effective role models are a key part of our approach to improving diversity more generally.

What we are doing about it?

We need to improve the balance of our workforce and this means that we have to attract more women to come and work for us. Over the last couple of years we have put in place a number of actions and initiatives to achieve this. We are starting to make headway – but as with any change programme sustained improvement takes time.

We have....

Increased the number of applications from women by using software and social media to target them to attend candidate attraction events.

Focused graduate and apprentice recruitment to attract more women candidates. For example our new careers website has more women featured as role models and a broader range of potential career paths are illustrated.

Provided better guidance to managers to help them support new employees in their first year or on return from extended leave.

Introduced a new bonus scheme across our branches. It pays out a flat amount to each employee regardless of hours worked and salary if quarterly revenue targets are achieved. Consequently flexible working does not impact the bonus opportunity.

26.5% of our attendees for our new Aspire and Accelerate Programme are women; this programme provides potential and new first line managers with development and training.

And we are starting to improve...

The environment that women work in, particularly around facilities in branches, culture in offices and branches, and female uniforms.

Our flexibility when it comes to working hours. For example this holiday year for the first time employees can purchase extra holiday. Experience in other companies indicates that this will be particularly attractive to women who can increase the number of day’s holiday they can use over school holidays or where additional time is needed at home.

As a Leadership Team, we are committed to proactively challenging ourselves about the underlying reasons for the gap and working across our business to address it.

Sally-Anne Griffiths
HR Director

[1] PwC Women in Work Index 2017. Page 2
[2] Office for National Statistics data for year to October 2016. 9.4% for full-time employees and 18.1% for part-time employees.
[3] PwC Women in Work Index 2017. Page 4. Wholesale and retail trade gap – 19%.

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