Gender Pay Gap Report (2021)

As Hales Group Limited employs more than 250 people we are required by law to publish an annual gender pay gap report showing the difference in average female earnings compared to average male earnings over a standard time period, regardless of role seniority.

This is our report for the snapshot date of 5 April 2020.

As per our previous reports, we have broken down our calculations because we operate in a number of completely different employment sectors, and the jobs and levels of pay and bonuses are not obviously comparable. We have, however, also provided an indication of the gender pay gap within our organisation as a whole.

Hales Group’s overall workforce continues to consist of significantly more females than males (74% / 26% respectively). This profile reflects industry trends for care delivery and administrative staff within the health and social care sector being predominantly female.

Our gender pay gap results should be considered in the context of this distribution, as the predominance of females to males has an influence on our overall gender pay gap figures.



Key findings – Office based / salaried staff

Women make up 85.7% of our office based/salaried workforce and 86.7% of the top 10% highest earners in this grouping.
Our mean pay gap has increased to 6.1% (up from 1.4%).
Our median gender pay gap has increased to 8.2%.


Whilst there has been an increase in our gender pay gap from last year, the mean and median figures remain lower than the national average according to the Office for National Statistics, which puts the gender pay gap among all employees at 15.5% for 2020 (down from 17.4% in 2019).

The increase in the pay gap is indicative of the higher distribution of males in the upper and upper middle quartiles and respective lower representation of female employees in the lower and lower middle quartiles than in the upper middle and upper quartiles. The percentage of women in the upper and upper middle quartiles is still proportionate to their representation in the workforce as a whole.


Key findings – Home Care workers

There remains a near-zero percentage figure for the mean pay gap in this group of employees with the distribution of males and females fluctuating slightly in the upper quartile. This is due to the fact that employees are concentrated in the same pay grade, which reveals no gap between the pay of typical male and female employees, and completely equal pay overall.

Pay rates in the sector are largely dictated by local authority contracts and funding for community care and also National Minimum Wage legislation.

Key findings – Employees undertaking temporary assignments

This grouping of employees remains more evenly balanced than other groupings (64% male to 36% female). This is similar to last year’s distribution, however, we are pleased to report a reduction in the mean gender pay gap to –2.5% (from –1.4%) and a –2.4% median gap (down from 0.7% last year).


The distribution of male and female workers across all quartiles remains evenly balanced, which is reflective of the diverse range of industry sectors and professions for which we recruit.


Bonus pay gaps

Bonus payments are only applicable to office based/salaried staff and include any profit sharing, productivity, performance, incentive and commission payments.

The mean bonus gender pay gap is –12.3% and the median bonus gender pay gap is –101.9%. The proportion of males versus females receiving bonuses (50% versus 38%) is heavily influenced by the overall representation of females not only making up the significant majority of top earners in the company, but also our overall predominance of females within our workforce.

The significant negative median bonus gender pay gap is attributed to the fact that the top 6% of bonus earners were paid 54% of the total bonus payments and they were all female. However, we uphold that female relevant employees are no more or less likely to receive any amount of bonus payment compared to male relevant employees, with all employees paid in accordance with the same bonus structure; we just operate in a heavily female-dominated industry.

Overall summary

When looking at the overall workforce across all three sectors, we are delighted to report that the mean gender pay gap is –1.8% and the overall median gender pay gap is zero. The negative mean gap puts us significantly lower than the UK average and reflects the 74% female majority. The zero median gap reflects our commitment to providing equal opportunities across our business.

At Hales Group Limited, everyone is paid for the role they have in the team and for their performance in that role. No other factors affect an employee’s remuneration. Hales is an Equal Pay employer – men and women performing equal work receive equal pay.


Objectives

The results of our gender pay gap analysis are extremely positive once again this year, and we will strive to maintain these results by continually applying diversity, inclusion and equality initiatives.

Statement
I confirm that Hales Group Limited is committed to the principle of gender pay equality and has prepared its 2021 gender pay gap results in line with mandatory requirements.


I confirm that the information in this statement is accurate.

Kate Parkington
Director of People Services

Previous Reports
2020
2019