2023 saw Hippo formally measure the Gender Pay Gap for the first time. It’s critical that as an organisation we understand what’s driving our Gender Pay Gap
(an equality measure that shows the difference in average earnings between women and men) and that people do not confuse this with Equal Pay for comparable jobs (which is a legal obligation and has been for almost 5 decades).
What were the take-aways from our Gender Pay Gap?
Our 2023 Gender Pay Gap analysis highlighted that overall we had more men in senior and therefore higher paid positions across the business which drove the 18.1% median gender pay gap. When we analysed this further we could see that this was a result of a significant increase in headcount in our Engineering & Data portfolio which had more males than females and had a more senior profile due to the requirements of our clients.
Looking across UK businesses, the average Gender Pay Gap for hourly earnings in the United Kingdom in April 2023 was 13.2% across all industries in comparison with 10.8% for Hippo. With the breadth of professions within Hippo it can be difficult to make comparisons at a UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities level but if you look at the group ‘Computer programming, consultancy and related activities’ this has a median hourly pay gap of 20.9% compared with 18.1% at Hippo.
We recognise that 74% of people in the tech industry are men therefore we need to work harder to attract and retain more senior women into this portfolio, but also that the industry as a whole faces a diversity challenge that cannot be overcome overnight.
What near-term initiatives have we instigated?
Working patterns and hours
A lack of flexible and part time working is often cited as a key potential barrier to creating a more diverse workforce. As a consultancy that is required to contractually provide face-to-face services to some of our clients, 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 including remote working, part-time roles on projects and a focus on outcomes (rather than a 9-5 working hours principle) in their procurement policies and contractual arrangements. We are working with our clients to highlight the positive impact they can have on the gender pay gap by introducing these types of changes. In addition 6% of our employees already work on a part-time basis (as at January 2024).
Recruitment
We have commissioned an external 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. Following the audit we will look to implement the recommendations made by the 3rd party auditor.
This audit will supplement the existing activities by our Talent Acquisition team which include:
- Ensuring roles are widely advertised including using diversejobsmatter.co.uk and gov.uk/find-a-job
- Using software to check that our job adverts have no unconscious gender bias
- Partnering with agencies and companies that actively run campaigns for women (such as Code First Girls, STEMettes, and Women in AI)
- Providing an adaptive recruitment processes to remove barriers for applicants
Progression
We have introduced unconscious bias training and have rolled out additional Line Manager training and Talking Talent sessions as we recognise that promotion and reward decisions impact our gender pay gap, so look to ensure that our approach is fair and robust. We will continue to further look at opportunities to improve our data and management information (MI) to support this objective.
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 in general within the UK. This is a broader challenge that needs to be tackled across various aspects of society from education through to employment. Each Hippo is provided with 2 days a year of volunteering time which can be used for a social value initiative of their choosing. We will look for opportunities to support initiatives highlighting careers in tech to girls in schools, and to continue to support gender focused tech bootcamps targeting women.
A growing number of Hippos are involved in different mentoring schemes, which support women and non-binary individuals interested in a career in STEM.
Whilst we recognise that these initiatives do not directly impact on bringing women into the upper quartiles immediately the aim is that in the longer term 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.
Consistent with this, we have run a number of Academies which have supported providing additional skills to individuals in order to help accelerate their career progression. To date this has included over 20 females as well as hiring nearly 10 females via School of Code or Code First Girls. We will continue to look at opportunities for further Academies in the future.
Read Hippo’s 2023 Gender Pay Gap report.
We welcome more applications for senior roles from females. For our latest vacancies, visit our careers page.
