Gender pay gap at Hippo in 2024: Insights and actions

It’s critical that we understand what drives our gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap shows the difference in average earnings between women and men. It is not the same as equal pay for comparable jobs, which is a legal obligation.

What changes have there been in our gender pay gap in the last year?

2023 was our first year of reporting our gender pay gap because we reached the threshold of 250 employees. We have seen positive improvements and, in 2024, have reduced the gap in our hourly pay.

The median gender pay gap has improved by 3.1%

Our 2023 gender pay gap analysis highlighted that overall, we had more men in senior and therefore higher paid positions across the business. That drove the 18.1% median gender pay gap.

Following the gender pay gap analysis in 2023, we put in place a series of initiatives to support improving the gap. In 2024, the median gender pay gap reduced to 15%.

29% of the workforce in tech are women or non-binary, compared to 39% at Hippo. We need to work harder to attract and retain more senior women into the engineering and data portfolios, but we also recognise that the industry as a whole faces a diversity challenge that cannot be overcome overnight.

What actions have we taken so far?

We now have an employee-led women in tech community of belonging operating as part of our wider communities of belonging.

In 2024, we completed an inclusivity audit of our end-to-end recruitment process to ensure that it’s as robust as it can be from a diversity and inclusion perspective.  

The audit summarised that we have a “very strong foundation rooted in rigour and professionalism” and many recommended changes have already been implemented. 

Attracting new talent

To attract more female candidates to apply to Hippo, we have: 

• carried out a candidate survey
• reviewed our website content to make sure it’s inclusive, is not ambiguous and has open and clear language
• updated our diversity, inclusion and belonging (DI&B) statement and positioning
• created a dedicated candidate support page
• advertised roles using diversejobsmatter.co.uk and gov.uk/find-a-job
• introduced software to check that our job adverts have no unconscious gender bias
• partnered with agencies and companies that actively run campaigns for women such as Code First Girls, STEMettes, and Women in AI
• put adaptive recruitment processes in place to remove barriers for applicants

Supporting our Hippos

We have introduced unconscious bias training as part of our wider diversity and inclusion training. 

We have increased delivery of specific line management training to ensure all line managers are confident and set up to provide high quality support to their reports.

We run quarterly talking talent sessions to ensure that all Hippos are considered equally for:

• opportunities
• support
• promotion
• progression of pay

We have set up regular points to review data as part of our process for tracking our progress and to ensure that our promotions and pay review process are managed fairly and consistently. During the financial year 2023 to 2024 our promotions were split equally across gender.

We have established part-time working options with many of our clients. We allow as much flexibility as possible both internally and on project for how Hippos manage their working day.

In the last 12 months alone, we have supported a number of events for Ladies that UX, Women in Product London and hosted a WILD international women’s day event. 

What near-term initiatives are we working on this year?

Working patterns and hours

It can be a challenge to offer alternative working arrangements across all roles. To do so relies on our clients supporting a more flexible approach in their procurement policies and contractual arrangements. This includes remote working, part-time roles on projects and a focus on outcomes rather than a 9-5 working hours principle.

We will continue to work with our clients to highlight the positive impact they can have on the gender pay gap by introducing these types of changes. 

7.5% of our employees already work on a part-time basis compared to 7% in 2023.

It is our intention to develop client charters with our biggest clients to help ensure that this area is effectively highlighted and prioritised. 

Recruitment

Some additional actions from the inclusivity audit will be delivered this year, including:

• updating our job adverts and interview guides
• ensuring that the roles are described using simple and inclusive language and that interview questions are always clear, specific and measurable
• working to define ‘culture fit’ to support candidates to make informed decisions about joining Hippo and our professions in making hiring decisions. 
• running refresher interview training to reflect any changes to our processes and skills needed
• expanding unconscious bias training
• continuously monitoring the effectiveness of our processes in order to drive improvements. For example our conversion to offer (where we have gender data) is favourable to female candidates. For the 12 months of 2024 this was 47% for females compared to 43% for males

Pay and progression

To support pay and progression, we will:

• conduct a gender review on all pay and promotion process outcomes
• set up a specific mentoring programme for women and non-binary Hippos, focused on internal progression
• actively support more engagement and membership of interactive lean in circles which started in 2024, where small groups or circles of women get together to coach and support each other in their goals
• ensure salaries are evaluated fairly and will offer a higher salary than a candidate may ask for if that is in line with other individuals to ensure we do not further perpetuate pay gaps, regardless of candidate gender  

 

How do we support closing the gender pay gap in the longer term?

Data shows that the tech industry has a wider gender pay gap than average  in the UK. 

This is a broader challenge that needs to be tackled across various aspects of society from education through to employment. 

We will support the industry pipeline in terms of gender talent over this coming year by:

• proactively looking for opportunities for volunteering days to be focused on organisations that support females or non-binary people access roles in tech. 
• supporting initiatives that highlight careers in tech to girls in schools, and build stronger long term relationships with partner schools. This will include helping to deliver immersive programmes for secondary-age females and non-binary people and supporting female-sponsored boot camps in primary schools.
• ensuring equal representation from Hippo when running career talks and events. 
• having a minimum target of a 50/50 split in male and female or non-binary people where candidates and suitability allow in all internships and t-level placements growing our external mentoring support to women and non-binary people interested in a career in STEM and we will focus on growing this number over the next year whilst growing the proportion of mentors that are female or non binary.
• continuing to support Ladies that UX, Women in Product London and WILD international women’s day events. We are now supporting client initiatives that are gender focused along with AWS cloud women in Manchester this year.

We recognise that these initiatives do not directly bring women into the upper quartiles immediately. However by bringing in more women at all levels, this will impact on the positive progression of women into more senior roles not just in Hippo but in the tech sector as a whole.

Read our 2024 gender pay gap report.

We welcome more applications for senior roles from women and non-binary people.  For our latest vacancies, visit our careers page.