Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting
In our 2019/20 Sustainability report we explained why we haven't, in the past,
recorded ethnicity data. What's more, is that the process for gender pay gap
reporting isn't transferable to ethnicity, for many reasons:
Ethnicity has multiple categories with far smaller data samples, whereas
gender pay gap reporting involves a largely binary characteristic
Geographical variations play a key role. E.g. our depots are in 26 different
regional areas. If a depot is in an area with a low ethnic minority population,
then there is unlikely to be a diverse pool of employees in the labour market.
2011 census data shows that out of 650 UK constituencies, 437 are over 90%
white, so many areas don't have enough ethnic minorities for the data sample
to be valid.
The age distribution of ethnic minority groups can influence pay. Those from
ethnic minority groups are likely to be younger, so they won't have had the
chance to progress far in their careers. If data is split out by age, then it makes
the data samples even smaller.
The Commission on Race and Ethnic disparities recommends that reported
ethnicity pay data should be disaggregated by different ethnicities to provide
the best information possible, so this will create even smaller data sizes. The
Commission has recommended that the Department for Business, Energy and
Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is tasked with producing guidance for employers to
draw on, so we will wait to see if any guidance is produced.
In the meantime, we're glad to be joining an alliance of organisations that are
funding a piece of research to be commissioned by Footprint, which aims at
helping our industry address ethnicity pay gaps and representation at senior
level. For more information please see Diversity in Hospitality and
Foodservice