Need for flexible working may underpin gender pay gap

Pay differentials between men and women for equal jobs ranged from 2% higher at Links of London to 91.6% lower at Pandora, where women effectively have been earning 28p for every £1 earned by a man. 

But the data, collected and collated by the Government’s Gender Pay Gap Service, did not take into consideration the proportion of store employees who make up the Pandora workforce, said Pandora’s UK managing director, Brien Winther in a statement.

More than 90% of store employees were women, he explained though 60% of the board and senior management roles were filled by men.

“Mathematically this causes a skewed calculation of gender pay gap, which does not reflect that we pay equal salaries for equal jobs.

“In addition, we also have a high percentage of women working on a part time basis, which affects our gender bonus gap.”

He added that Pandora were committed to equal rights and opportunities and always hired, promoted and rewarded staff on the basis of merit and behaviour.

“We continue to monitor our pay structures and opportunities for all staff."

Brien Winther, Pandora UK Managing Director 

At the other end of the spectrum, Links of London reported a women’s mean hourly rate that was 2% HIGHER than men’s, meaning that women were earning £1.02 for every £1 that men earn.
Warren James, another major retailer with a large female workforce, had a pay gap of just 2.5% which means that women typically earn 98p for every £1 earned by a man. 

“Whilst we treat all applicants equally, as a retailer selling predominately women’s jewellery, we find that we largely attract female applicants to work in our business, with many applicants telling us that this is driven by their passion for our products and interest in women’s jewellery,” they said in a statement.

The gender pay gap among UK jewellery retailers employing more than 250 staff in 2017 was 25.7%, compared to a national average of 19.3% with Chisholm Hunter reporting a gap of 4.3%, Swarovski  4.7% (95p for every £1 that men earn), Beaverbrook 9.5% , Tiffany 17.3% (83p for every £1 that men earn) Thomas Sabo 26.2% (74p for every £1 for men), De Beers 32.8%  (67p for every £1 for men) and F.Hinds 36.2% (64p for every £1 for men).

The UK jewellery industry’s largest employers Signet, which owns Ernest Jones and H. Samuel, reported a gap of 20.4% with women earning 80p for every £1 that men earn.
That will change and the gap will narrow, said UK executive director Emma Hayward and UK finance director Shaun Carney in a statement.

“Our goal is to have a more even gender distribution across the organisation and for women to progress to senior and more highly-paid positions in some of our Stores’ Support Centre departments/grades and highest turnover stores.” 

The significant pay gap at F.Hinds, where 77% of the workforce are women, is explained by a preference among women for flexible working patterns, the company said, again in a statement.

“We offer flexibility across our teams with full time and part time roles that offer a work life balance.”

But they added, the majority of their senior branch managers were men who had relocated when a senior position became available so to progress their careers.

“Due to personal circumstances, comparatively few women have relocated when offered these senior positions”.