Optical retailers have reported that there is still a gender pay gap despite the pressure of a legal requirement to publish any differences between the pay that men and women receive. This is the second year that UK businesses that employ more than 250 people have been required to report their gender pay gaps to the Government Equalities Office.
These reports, which can be viewed on the government’s website as well as each company’s, have shown there has been a slight decrease in the gender pay gap in some businesses, while other optical employers still have a long way to go.
Public sector organisations were required to submit their data on March 31 and private companies on April 5. Specsavers’ report includes data from its support office network Specsavers Optical Superstores and its manufacturing and distribution site, Vision Labs. It does not include data from its optical stores as each practice is an individually owned business.
Specsavers revealed that in its support office network there was a 33.2% mean difference in hourly pay and a median of 38.8%, which is a decrease of 2% and 3.1% since last year. Its Vision Labs reported a 31.3% mean difference and a median of 11.6%.
Kate Brown (pictured), global people director at Specsavers, said: ‘The gender pay gaps we have are not a result of us paying men and women differently in similar roles – we pay people equally. The gaps are due to the fact that, for a variety of reasons, we currently have more men in senior roles than women. While we have seen a small improvement in some of our numbers but we will not close those gaps overnight. In the past year we have put in place a dedicated plan covering five key areas which, in the long-term, we believe will further embed diversity and inclusion in our business and help narrow the gender pay gap.
‘These activities include partnering with a global diversity and inclusion organisation to deliver bespoke unconscious bias training, extending flexible working, a detailed review of all our recruitment processes and looking at the language we use to avoid bias.’
The report from Boots Opticians showed that the mean difference in hourly rates was 17.8%, a 2.2% decrease since last year and the median difference was 17.1%, which has dropped by 3.9%. A total of 76% of Boots Opticians employees were female and 67.5% of women were in top quartile jobs, the biggest proportion out of all multiples.
Jonathan Gardner, former managing director of Boots Opticians, said in the report: ‘In the past year, we have looked for ways to offer even more flexible working, offered unconscious bias training and offered more part-time opportunities than ever before, through changing the way we advertise roles. I’m proud of the fact that we have seen a positive increase in the percentage of females in our senior managers and leadership positions. I believe that the work we have done is reflected in the positive move in our mean and median pay gap. I am encouraged with what we have achieved so far and am confident our plans continue to address the issue.’
Scrivens’ report highlighted that there was a mean difference in hourly rates of 31.6% compared to last year’s 27.8% and a median difference of 35.5% as opposed to 28.4% previously. Nicholas Georgevic, chief executive of Scrivens, said: ‘At Scrivens Opticians & Hearing Care we have always been committed to treating our people equally and ensuring that everyone, irrespective of ethnicity, background or gender, can progress and develop in direct proportion to their individual talent, ability, diligence and commitment. Our workforce of over 1,000 men and women, of whom we are very proud, is split 78% women to 22% men. The gender pay gap, however, simply shows the difference in the average hourly earnings of men and women regardless of their roles in a business. The gap is not caused by men and women being paid differently to do the same job, but rather by the inherent nature of the structure of a workforce working within the retail sector whereby many more women than men are employed in customer-facing roles within our stores.’
Scrivens was not the only company that showed an increase in its gender pay gap. Optical Express and Vision Express also reported that their pay gap had widened, with Optical Express’ mean difference in hourly rates increasing by 2.4% and the median by a larger 8.5%, and Vision Express’ mean difference increasing by 3.2% and median by 2%. However, as the number of employees at Vision Express has risen, the amount of women in upper middle quartile jobs at the company has increased by 9.3%.
A Vision Express spokesperson said that the company had taken steps to address the gender pay gap by implementing more flexible, family-friendly policies in its practices and support centre.
It said: ‘Our 2018 report is impacted by the change in the composition of our workforce following the acquisition of Tesco Opticians, which increased our head count by around 1,500. Our future plans include simplifying our salary structures, rolling out a new reward model and forming a Colleague Group to focus on diversity and working practices.’
A statement from Optical Express explained that there was no gender inequality within the company. ‘Simply looking at a gender pay gap as reported in line with the government’s calculation does not give a true picture and is totally misleading. If you look for example at our optometrists’ salaries, many of our female employees are paid a higher hourly rate than our male optometrists and overall, male and female optometrists are paid equally.
‘The issue of a gender pay gap is one that should be considered in detail rather than selectively looking at top line numbers,’ it said. ‘The variance of the types of roles, and those who occupy those roles significantly affect how the government’s calculations are reported. For example, the highest-paid employees are the company’s refractive surgeons, and in the UK and Ireland the pool of surgeons with the required skills is overwhelmingly made up of males.
Meanwhile, the employees across our retail business and in our large contact centre are predominantly female.’
Mean and median pay
Mean pay is the figure reached by dividing total pay bill by number of employees.
Median pay is the level at which 50% are paid more and 50% less.
Bonus pay gaps
Specsavers disclosed there was a 0.9% decrease in mean bonus pay difference but a larger 6.8% decrease in median difference. At Boots, 76.7% of women received bonuses, 6.4% more than men and at Scrivens, there was a 2.5% decrease in mean bonus pay but a 6.7% increase in median difference.
Interestingly, the mean bonus pay difference at Optical Express increased by 2.9% but the median difference decreased by 8.8%. A total of 73.4% of female employees at the company received bonus pay compared to 75.8% last year. Optical Express’ part-time workforce is 82% female, and as working part-time reduces the chance of being eligible for bonus pay, this has had an impact on the figures.
According to Vision Express’ report, last year 55% of male colleagues were eligible for a bonus scheme as opposed to just 35% of women due to their roles at the company. A new performance-based incentive programme means that 97% of female employees are now eligible for a bonus. The mean bonus pay difference rose by 11.1% due to the impact of a one-off incentive plan payment to senior management.
