Equality in employment
We are committed to achieving equality in employment and learning practices. We promise to:
- create an environment where differences and contributions of all are valued
- ensure every employee is entitled to a working environment which promotes dignity and respect
- ensure no form of discrimination, intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated
- ensure that training, development and progression are available to all
- recognise that equality in the workplace is good management practice and makes good business sense
- review all our employment practices and procedures to ensure fairness
- recognise that breaches of our equality policy will be regarded as misconduct and could lead to disciplinary proceedings
- monitor and review our equality policies and performance yearly
Equality monitoring
Summary of workforce
2021 - 2022 |
2022 - 2023 |
2023 - 2024 |
Target |
How well are we doing? |
|
Top 5% of earners who are female |
42.42% |
42.86% |
34.21% |
45% |
10.79% below target |
Top 5% of earners who belong to a black, Asian, or ethnic minority background |
9.09% |
11.43% |
15.79% |
14% |
1.79% above target |
Staff who are registered disabled |
10.03% |
11.57% |
10.72% |
12% |
1.28% below target |
Staff from a black, Asian, or ethnic minority background |
24.69% |
26.54% |
26.23% |
26% |
0.23% above target |
Percentage of workforce under 25 |
4.78% |
4.78% |
6.52% |
8% |
1.48% below target |
Gender profile |
Male
|
Male
|
Male
|
Male
|
3.41% above target |
Gender pay gap
The Government requires organisations to publish their gender pay gap data by 30 March for the preceding financial year.
Mean average gender pay gap (hourly rate)
March 2019 |
March 2020 |
March 2021 |
March 2022 |
March 2023 |
March 2024 |
|
Male |
£15.17 |
£15.43 |
£16.56 |
£16.89 |
£17.80 |
£18.97 |
Female |
£14.09 |
£14.08 |
£15.78 |
£16.43 |
£17.69 |
£18.77 |
Gender pay gap |
7.12% |
8.74% |
4.71% |
2.72% |
0.62% |
1.05% |
The mean Gender Pay gap has increased from 0.62% in 2023 to 1.05%.
Median average gender pay gap (hourly rate)
March 2019 |
March 2020 |
March 2021 |
March 2022 |
March 2023 |
March 2024 |
|
Male |
£15.04 |
£15.34 |
£16.01 |
£16.29 |
£17.29 |
£17.29 |
Female |
£13.28 |
£13.64 |
£16.01 |
£16.78 |
£17.78 |
£17.78 |
Gender pay gap |
11.7% |
11.08% |
0% |
-3.01% |
-2.83% |
-7.33% |
As at the snapshot date of 31 March 2024 there was -7.33% gender pay gap between males and females employed by Wolverhampton Homes. Where we have a negative percentage, this means that the midpoint hourly rate of pay of female employees is higher than the pay of male employees.
Salary quartiles
Lowest earners
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Male |
93 males51% |
85 males48% |
82 males50% |
76 males53% |
79 males54.48% |
82 males
|
Female |
88
|
91
|
83
|
67
|
66
|
69
|
Middle earners
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Male |
100 males55% |
91 males52% |
125 males76% |
114 males79% |
113 males
|
117 males76.97% |
Female |
82
|
85
|
40
|
30
|
33
|
35
|
High earners
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Male |
160 males88% |
157 males89% |
91 males55% |
76 males53% |
78 males53.42% |
83 males
|
Female |
22
|
19
|
74
|
68
|
68
|
69
|
Top earners
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Male |
109 males60% |
111 males63% |
116 males70% |
97 males67% |
94 males
|
97 males
|
Female |
73 females40% |
64
|
50
|
47
|
53
|
55
|
Ethnicity pay gap
We have chosen to voluntarily report the ethnicity pay gap as it aligns with our value of respecting differences and to help us to understand where we may need to make changes for the future.
Mean average ethnicity pay gap (hourly rate)
March 2023 |
March 2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
£16.83 |
£17.81 |
White |
£18.11 |
£19.31 |
Our mean ethnicity pay gap as at March 2024 is reported at 7.77% compared to 5.83% in 2023.
Median average ethnicity pay gap (hourly rate)
March 2023 |
March 2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
£17.29 |
£18.29 |
White |
£17.45 |
£19.63 |
As at the snapshot date of 31 March 2024 there was a 6.83% ethnicity pay gap between White and ethnic minority colleagues employed by Wolverhampton Homes compared to 0.92% in 2023.
Salary quartiles
Lowest earners
2023 |
2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
53 colleagues
|
61 colleagues40.40% |
White |
92 colleagues
|
90 colleagues59.60% |
Middle earners
2023 |
2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
30 colleagues
|
31 colleagues20.39% |
White |
116 colleagues
|
121 colleagues79.61% |
High earners
2023 |
2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
38 colleagues
|
48 colleagues31.58% |
White |
108 colleagues
|
104 colleagues68.42% |
Top earners
2023 |
2024 |
|
Ethnic minority |
41 colleagues
|
30 colleagues19.74% |
White |
106 colleagues
|
122 colleagues80.26% |
-
We've reduced our gender pay gap
We have taken steps to reduce our gender pay gap. As of 31 March 2024, there was a negative pay gap of -7.33% between the average median hourly pay of our male and female employees. This means that the midpoint hourly rate of pay of female employees is higher than the pay of male employees.
We are proud to be a fair and progressive employer and we've helped to bridge this gap through:
- our equality forum celebrating key dates such as International Women's Day
- a popular mentoring programme to support professional and career development
- our revised recruitment process where candidates are assessed against a range of elements, not just based on their interview
- partnering with several recruitment organisations to develop targeted recruitment opportunities for underrepresented groups
- every recruitment panel being made up of a diverse group of staff
- work being done to support applicants with mentoring prior to the interview process
- a range of family-friendly policies that support staff to balance their work, home and family life
- PowerBI dashboards to provide greater insight into the business to include ethnicity pay gap reporting and annual employment monitoring
- reviewed the targets that were set against the 2011 Census to reflect the outcomes of the 2021 Census more closely
-
Our plans
There's always room for improvement in how we celebrate and respect differences. Here's what we have planned as we look ahead:
- promote learning opportunities to colleagues on our revised HR policies, aligned to new ways of working so employees (where job role allows) are empowered to work flexibly, which will in turn support gender equality
- continue to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across Wolverhampton Homes through a variety of channels
- deliver on our priorities and key initiatives as set out in our EDI action plan
- continued use of the mentoring scheme to support staff opportunities for development and promotion
- review further collaboration opportunities with customers and partners in the city
Reducing the ethnicity pay gap
Our ethnic minority colleagues represent 26.23% of the workforce, which takes us just over our target of 26%.
A contributing factor to the ethnicity pay gap is the number of ethnic minority colleagues in senior roles. The percentage of the top 5% of ethnic minority earners continues to increase and takes us over our target of 14%, following recent promotions and external recruitment of ethnic minority colleagues.
We continue to work towards reducing the ethnicity gap through the review and monitoring of relevant data. Data will include:
- the ethnicity pay gap by occupation, pay band and age
- consideration of the proportion of colleagues from ethnic minorities by contract type - i.e. full-time, part-time, fixed term contracts
- data on job applicants and successful applicants
- data on participants in learning and development, and mentoring
- reports of bullying or harassment
- formal and informal grievances
- exit interview data on the reasons why colleagues leave the organisation, broken down by ethnic background
We are also in the process of gaining feedback from our Equality Champions network made up of senior management, colleagues and union representatives on possible actions and solutions to develop an action plan to improve the ethnicity pay gap.
-
Our colleagues
Where we are underrepresented amongst our colleagues, we will always state that applications from that group are welcomed when we advertise jobs.