The Financial Times has reported a mean gender pay gap of 24.4 per cent favouring men and revealed that more than two-thirds of its highest paid employees are male.
When it comes to bonus pay, men are paid 37.9 per cent more on average (mean) than women. The upper pay quartile is made up of 69 per cent men and 31 per cent women.
The FT’s pay gap figures are among the highest so far released under Government mandate. Among news publishers only the Economist Group is higher at 32.5 per cent.
FT chief executive John Ridding said that despite the figure there were “more women in senior roles across the newsroom and business than ever before in our 130-year history”.
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He said the FT was aiming to achieve gender parity across its leadership by 2022 or sooner with board members having been given “inclusion” and “diversity” plans.
Ridding said the “primary reason” for the publishing group’s gender pay gap was because it still had “fewer women than men at senior levels” in the organisation.
“This reflects historic recruitment and the fact that the FT has relatively long tenure” he said. “We expect the gap to improve – and are seeing that – as more women enter senior positions, where bonus payments are also higher, and as more men in later stages of their careers retire.”
He added: “Gender diversity is a priority for us. This is not about compliance but about fairness and good business practice. A more diverse organisation will make better decisions and better reflect the needs and interests of our audience.”
The FT’s median gender pay gap (comparing its middle salaries) is 19.4 per cent and its bonus pay gap is 37.9 per cent.
Steve Bird, representing the FT chapel of the National Union of Journalists, said: “The FT report on gender pay refers to a ‘goal of gender parity across the FT leadership by 2022’ but no definition is given for “leadership” and no specific targets set for closing the pay gap.
“We believe this is a missed opportunity.”
The mean gender pay gap breakdown among news publishers and broadcasters so far:
- Economist Group – 32.5 per cent
- Channel 4 – 28.6 per cent
- ITN – 19.6 per cent (encompassing Channel 4 News, ITV News and Channel 5 News)
- Trinity Mirror – 18 per cent (5.8 per cent at Local World, 17.8 per cent at Mirror Group Newspapers and 19.4 per cent at Media Scotland)
- Sky – 11.5 per cent (5.2 per cent within broadcasting division)
- Guardian News and Media – 11.3 per cent
- BBC – 10.7 per cent
Companies with more than 250 employees have until 4 April to publish their gender pay gap data by law.
Picture: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
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