Look Ahead continues to close gender pay gap

Published: 5th April 2019
Look Ahead's gender pay gap results

Published this week, Look Ahead’s 2018 Pay Gap figures show a median pay gap between men and women of 2.2%.  This demonstrates a reduction in the gap by 3.2% between women and men’s average pay compared to 5.4% in 2017.  The current national average gender pay gap is 17.9% and within the supported housing sector, Look Ahead benchmarks positively against last year’s figures.

As an organisation with more women than men within our workforce, Look Ahead aims to ensure women are also represented at senior levels. Over 64% of our managers are women. For the last few years Look Ahead has a Woman in Leadership bursary which aims to develop female leaders of the future for the housing and social care sector through the funding of leadership training and bespoke mentoring and coaching opportunities.

BAME pay gap and CEO multiplier

Going above the government required reporting, Look Ahead is pleased to lead in the supported housing sector by publishing Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) pay gap and CEO multiplier data.

The data shows that the median pay gap between our white and BAME populations is 3.4%. The difference is driven by roles at senior levels that are paid based on market rates.

Look Ahead has a high percentage of staff from the BAME population; 51% of our managers are BAME and the organisation actively invest in training and development opportunities to develop staff into more senior roles.

Look Ahead’s CEO multiplier sits at a 1:8 ratio meaning the CEO earns 8 times that of a frontline employee. There is currently no other benchmarking in the sector and it is anticipated that the multiplier will be in the hundreds for the FTSE 250 companies and at least 10–15 times in the larger Housing Associations.

Commitment to inclusivity and diversity

Over the last year we have strengthened our approach to Inclusion and have partnered with Inclusive Employers to develop our plans. With a refreshed Inclusion and Diversity Policy, our key inclusion strategic objectives for the next two years at Look Ahead include to:

  • Create and maintain an inclusive work environment for all staff: this means all staff feel comfortable to be themselves at work
  • Attract, develop and retain staff from the widest pool of talent
  • Ensure our diversity data drives our annual priorities for inclusion work
  • Ensure compliance with legal regulations and requirements relating to diversity and inclusion
  • Deliver accessible services and equitable outcomes across customer groups

Julie Blair, Look Ahead’s Director of People, said: “I am really pleased with the movement this year in our gender pay gap and am delighted to be one of the first organisations to publish the BAME pay gap and the CEO multiplier.

“We are committed to being an open, transparent and genuinely inclusive employer and I look forward to working on our inclusion initiatives of the future.”

For more information, please contact Cat Snyder, Communications Manager. Tel: 0207 368 4850 Email: catsnyder@lookahead.org.uk

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.