University publishes 2020 Gender Pay Gap Report

The University of Reading has published its 2020 Gender Pay Gap Report.

The mean gender pay gap between men and women, as shown on 31 March 2020, is 20.6%. Compared with a gap of 18.3% in 2019, this represents an increase of 2.3%.  The report is published on the University’s Diversity and Inclusion website.

The gender pay gap figure includes all University employees, including cleaners and catering assistants, roles which are currently occupied more often by women, as well as senior academic and managerial roles.

Unlike some other universities, the headline Reading figure includes student workers appointed through the University’s temporary staffing service, “Campus Jobs”. Students fulfil a variety of roles, including in the University’s many cafes, bars and restaurants, assisting with visit days, or as Student Ambassadors. If Campus Jobs workers are not included in the calculations, the University’s mean gender pay gap is 16.9%.

Women progressing their careers

The report also highlights the proportion of women in the upper pay quartile. The proportion in 2017, when Gender Pay Gap reporting began, was 42%. It has now increased to 48%, demonstrating that women are progressing their careers and holding more senior positions. 

The University continually reviews its promotion procedures for academic staff and values teaching, citizenship and leadership, and diversity and inclusion contributions. This has led to higher levels of applications across all academic staff and very strong success rates, particularly for female staff. 

In the academic year 2019/20:

• 68% of successful applications for promotion to Associate Professor and Professor were from women, an increase of 12% from 56% in 2018/19. 
• 57% of female academic staff who applied for promotion to Professor were successful, compared with 53% of male academic staff.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Parveen Yaqoob said: “Implementing change takes time. We first began reporting on our gender pay gap four years ago. We have seen our overall gap go up and down in that time, reflecting that small changes can have a disproportionate impact, but the broader picture is that we are moving in the right direction.

“We now have more women in senior roles and, in line with our targets, we now have a larger proportion of female professors and greater female representation on our key committees, including the University Executive Board.

“I am very proud that the University achieved a silver Athena SWAN award in March 2020. Four Schools now hold silver awards, and three Schools hold bronze awards. Our Athena SWAN action plan will support women's career progression at Reading and will help to reduce the gender pay gap over the longer-term.”

Bonus pay gap

The report also takes into account the number and value of bonuses awarded to members of staff. The University of Reading operates reward and recognition schemes to encourage, recognise and value the hard work, commitment and achievements of staff who go above and beyond the normal expectations of their role.

Such schemes include the Celebrating Success award, which offers colleagues gift vouchers ranging from £25 to £100 as a thank you for a job well done, and the Lump Sum Award scheme, which recognises staff whose exceptional contribution on a one-off or short-term basis has been outstanding and is worthy of particular note.  These awards typically range from £250 to £1,500 in value. 

The mean bonus pay gap has increased from 24.6% in 2019 to 30.6% in 2020. However, the median bonus pay gap is 0% as the median value of awards to both men and women was the same at £100.

Despite the increase in the bonus pay gap, a greater proportion of women received a bonus than men:

• The proportion of women who received a bonus has increased from 24% in 2019 to 27% in 2020.
• In the 12-month period to 31 March 2020, 838 bonus awards were made to women, while 463 were awarded to men.

Read the full Gender Pay Gap report at: reading.ac.uk/web/files/Diversity/Gender-Pay-Gap_Report-2020-final.pdf