A highlight of my professional year is launching our diversity and inclusion report reflecting on what we have achieved. I am pleased that Look Ahead has, despite a challenging year, made great progress in this area.
Our Gender Pay Gap and Cultural Diversity Pay Gap data shows relatively low numbers and we were delighted to have been awarded Bronze in the Inclusive Employers Standard for the second year running. An unfortunate consequence of the global pandemic is that it has highlighted yet again the challenging health inequalities in society and we saw this highlighted across the Globe through the Black Lives Matter campaign. While conversations about race inequality are never comfortable, I genuinely think that it is only through having open and honest conversations and aiming to make long term changes, that we will ever make any progress to work towards a truly inclusive society.
2020 Gender Pay Gap Figures
Look Ahead’s 2020 Gender Pay Gap figures show a median pay gap between men and women of 0.8%. The mean average is 3.3% difference in women and men’s pay, almost exclusively coming from our Executive Team level.
National average gender pay gaps within the housing sector remain at 8.1%, benchmarking Look Ahead positively within our sector. Across the organisation and at all levels of seniority, Look Ahead is proud that we are continuing to review and address issues relating to our gender pay gap and continue to remain committed to equity across all genders.
We continue to develop emerging talent through our yearly Women in Leadership Award which offers bespoke training and mentoring opportunities. Over the last three years a total of 72% of promotions were awarded to women and 72% of all professional qualifications were undertaken by women.
Cultural Diversity Pay Gap and CEO multiplier
As we have done in previous years, Look Ahead is delighted to lead in the supported housing sector by publishing our Cultural Diversity pay gap and CEO multiplier data.
2020 data shows that the median pay gap between our white and culturally diverse populations remains low at 5.0%, compared to 3.2% from 2019. Similar to the gender pay gap numbers, the number is driven by senior level roles that paid based on market rates. We continue our strong commitment to inclusion when recruiting and developing staff.
Whilst it is not required to publish, Look Ahead’s CEO multiplier sits at a 1:8 ratio meaning the CEO pay and benefits are 8 times that of a frontline employee. Transparency is a key feature our diversity and inclusion agenda and publishing these figures is just one feature of that.
Our commitment to inclusivity and diversity
In 2020, we set up three network groups – Cultural Diversity, LGBTQ+ and DisAbility networks led by staff members to ensure staff represented by these groups can drive change and have a clear voice. Every month we recognise a range of diverse events through our external and internal communications to ensure that we celebrate the range of people we support and employ at Look Ahead.
Wellbeing has always been a high priority for us. To help support staff due to the impact of Covid-19, we held a wellbeing week in January to provide informative, interactive and fun virtual sessions for staff and customers on all aspects of physical and mental wellbeing. This is something we will be repeating on a bi-annual basis.
We continue our Women in Leadership and Rising Star Awards to promote emerging talent and are proud of our internal promotion figures.
For more details on our gender pay gap, Cultural Diversity pay gap, CEO multiplier and diversity and inclusion initiatives overall, please read our 2020 report.
As Deputy Director of People I am passionate and committed to do all we can to ensure that Look Ahead is a diverse and welcoming employer and as an organisation we will continue to grow and learn and never rest on our laurels despite the positive progress and data we have published.
If you are interested in developing your career at Look Ahead, please take a look at our current vacancies or check out our LinkedIn page.