Women earn more than men at Diageo

Female staff earn more than their male counterparts at Diageo in England and Wales when all employees’ salaries are taken into account.

Ursula Burns will join Diegeo’s board of directors next April

As reported by The Times, the median pay gap at the drinks giant across its 1,300 employees in England and Wales favours women, standing at -9.8% (a minus figure favours women), compared with the overall ONS pay gap for the UK of +18.8%.

Diageo is one of the top-ranking FTSE 100 companies for gender equality in the boardroom and has been exemplary in developing and promoting female talent into senior roles.

However, the figures also reflect the fact that the office-based functional jobs, which are more typically filled by women, sit at a higher level than manufacturing, leading to a higher hourly median rate for women.

Meanwhile, a greater number of men are employed in Diageo’s bonus-driven field sales team, meaning the median bonus pay gap across the workforce is +12.3%, which also reflects the higher number of men in senior leadership roles.

While Diageo is pleased with its progress, its longterm goal is to close the gap completely. “Our aim is to encourage more men and women to apply for roles that have more traditionally been seen as ‘male’ or ‘female’.

“We believe this is important in achieving gender balance and reducing and eliminating the pay gap over time,” a spokesperson for the company said.

The figures appear in Diageo’s first gender pay report, which is now mandatory for all companies with more than 250 employees.

Next April Diageo’s main board of directors will reach gender parity when Ursula Burns, one of America’s leading business women and the former CEO of Xerox, starts her role as a non-executive director.