Closing the gender pay gap in hospitality
Foreword
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the Hospitality, Travel and Leisure (HTL) industry with 8 out of 10 employees being furloughed over the last 16 months. It is no surprise that most companies in the sector have not had
the opportunity to focus on producing a Gender Pay Gap (GPG) report and are taking advantage of the Government’s suspension of the reporting deadline to October 2021.
In collaboration with PwC, we have analysed the reports that have been published by the end of May 2021, reviewed the data and extrapolated some of the insights and practices that have been shared by those that have elected to publish their data. Reporting across HTL was at 19%, well below industry average. Two companies chose to publish their Ethnicity Pay Gap as well as their Gender Pay Gap.
While some might argue whether the figures will be meaningful considering the impact of furlough and restructuring activities, it is crucially important to continue to focus on transparency, reporting and meaningful action to address some of the inequalities that existed prior to the pandemic and have been exacerbated since. Every step, however small, in that direction can
Headline Findings
Following the Government Equalities Office’s (GEO) suspension of the
gender pay gap reporting deadline for 2019/20, and given the ongoing focus
on COVID-19, reporting announcements were significantly slower in 2020/21 than in earlier years. On 24 February 2021, the GEO announced a delay in enforcement for 2020/21 reporting to 5 October 2021 and the usual reporting rush towards 5 April didn’t happen.
While slightly under 25% of companies reported prior to 5 April 2021, reporting continued steadily throughout April and May and was at 32% as of 31 May 2021. However, reporting within the Hospitality, Travel and Leisure (HTL) sector was significantly below this, at 19%. This is
in contrast with the retail sector in which 36% of companies had disclosed. To a large extent, this may reflect the more consistent impact of COVID-19 on HTL businesses. Based on the limited group who had reported by 31 May 2021, we saw the following trends:
(1) Limited progress in the figures - While average mean and median pay gaps in the wider market fell in 2020/21, and retailsaw a significant drop, the limited number of companies who reported consistently
in HTL saw an increase for the first time in 3 years. Furthermore, the range of reporting figures in HTL was significantly larger than in previous years, with 25% of companies reporting a gap above 14.7% (14.1% last year). To some extent, this may reflect the significant changes to
the demographics of those working in the sector in April 2020 (due to COVID) and many businesses will hope to see a reversion in their April 2021 figures.
