Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Woman

There has been much coverage in the press this week about high salaries paid at the BBC. Although the story was always expected to be big news, it was the gender pay gap shown in the report that has generated the most negative coverage. In a defence of the Beeb Lord Hall noted that the gender pay gap across the whole organisation is ‘only’ 10% compared to 18% nationally.

The issue was being discussed on Women’s Hour on Radio 4 this morning. (Yes, I do enjoy a good Women’s Hour) and having enjoyed a moment of self-righteousness about Delt, decided to check the maths, lest I was incorrectly self-righteous and let’s be honest there’s nothing quite as embarrassing as incorrect self-righteousness.

I thought I would share the result with you.

The gender pay gap in Delt, that is to say the difference between the average male salary and average female salary is, when including the leadership team 1.3%. If you exclude the leadership team its 2%, this time in favour of the ladies.

I’ve asked for the analysis without the leadership team because we have consistently struggled to recruit female leadership team members, simply because so few female candidates apply. (Head of Brand and Workforce was the exception where there were only two male applicants.)

It’s great to confirm that there is no material gender pay gap in Delt but it would be even better if we could see more female applicants for leadership roles.

Giles Letheren – Chief Executive Officer