Pearson publishes fourth gender pay gap report - it shows a 2% reduction compared to last year, but there is still work to be done says Dr Florida E. Starks, Chief Diversity Officer, Pearson

Today Pearson publishes its fourth gender pay gap report for Great Britain. Covering around 19% of our global staff (4,000 employees), we are pleased to say there has been further progress in narrowing the gap.     
 
Our overall median gender pay gap (as of the snapshot date of April 5th 2020) is now 10%. This represents a 5% narrowing since our first gender pay gap report and a 2% reduction compared to last year. Further details can be found in the full report.  
 
Through the data we are able to get a better idea of what drives the pay gap - this is a broad measure, comparing average earnings for men and women across the whole organisation, rather than a measure of pay differences for similar roles or similar grades. Most of our workforce are women, while at the top of the organisation most of our leaders are men.    

But the gap is narrowing, and this reduction reflects progress in creating more opportunities for women at the more senior levels of our company - One third of the Executive Management team in the UK are women, as are 43% of senior leaders.   
 
What next 
Nevertheless, there is still much work ahead. In terms of gender pay equality, we need to continue to create opportunities for women to progress to bigger and broader roles.  
 
In this report, we reaffirm our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and set out the steps that we are taking to address the gap across our company operations, not just in Great Britain, but globally. Our robust action plan continues to guide us as we drive investment towards the hiring, retention and development of our female employees, and focuses on five key areas:   
 

• Professional development, support and mentoring;  
• Encouraging the empowerment of women and the formation of networks;  
• Improving recruitment and pipeline management to enhance senior female representation;  
• Shaping our policies and culture around returning to work and flexible working; and,  
• Ensuring the consistent engagement of Executive Management and senior leaders.

 
A commitment to global transparency on the gender pay gap 
In Britain it’s a legal requirement for employers of over 250 people to publish this data, and this transparency can play a welcome role in helping us to identify causes of inequality and so work to address them.  That’s why we’ve also made a commitment to increasing transparency around gender pay gap reporting across our global business - and later this year we will publish a global report for the larger countries in which we operate. 
 
Gaining a better understanding of the unique challenges faced by women in the workplace 
Looking back at 2020, we will also need to take stock of the impact of the events of the past year on gender equality.   On the one hand, Covid-19 has completely changed the way we work, how we connect and how we communicate.  It is increasingly likely that a new hybrid way of working will emerge - a potential important leveller for gender equality.  At the same time, we need better awareness and understanding of the unique challenges faced by women in the workplace (and how those have been heightened in the past year), including the specific issues of LGBTQ+, BAME and disabled women as well as those with children, elderly parents, and other caring obligations.  
 
How are our non-binary colleagues being represented? 
Today, gender doesn’t simply refer to male or female and a growing number of our people identify in different ways. However, the approach required by the regulations is to compare the pay of men and women. We have followed this approach for the purposes of our report based on the information provided by employees in respect of gender. 
 
Education is a powerful force for equity and change in our world and Pearson has responded by setting a series of ambitious company-wide goals underpinned by a robust action plan. As part of that plan, I will lead an expanded diversity team to accelerate our work on creating opportunities while eliminating barriers for all our people to achieve their full potential. We will continue to work closely with our leaders, partners and our employees to build a culture of inclusion at every level.