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A gender pay gap report for Macmillan Publishers International (MPIL) shows women's mean average earnings in 2020 were 2% higher than men's, with median pay at 25% higher, although the bonus gap has widened in men's favour.
This year's snapshot data, which is based on full-pay employees, was taken on 5th April 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. MPIL pointed out this had skewed the data because furloughed workers and those taking temporary voluntary salary reductions are excluded under the government's reporting structure.
The proportion of women receiving a bonus at MPIL, which comprises Pan Macmillan, consumer publishing business Priddy Books and also its MDL distribution division, was also higher than men with a 70%-30% split. However, the mean bonus earnings for men were higher than for women, at 75% — 1% more than 2019's figure. The median bonus figure - the mid-point of all employees' salaries from lowest to highest paid - was also larger for men, standing at 67%, much more than 2019's 50%.
Lara Borlenghi, finance director at Pan Macmillan, said of the bonus gap: “This is largely driven by two specific factors - each of our three divisional heads are men, and one of our divisions, Pan Macmillan, which has a large proportion of women, gave a bonus to everyone in the division.”
On average, women earned 2% more an hour than men, a reduction on 7% the year before. The 25% median figure was also down on 2019's 36%.
At the time of reporting, the company employed 607 people, 62% of them women, across its locations in London, Basingstoke and Swansea. Women outnumbered men in every pay quartile except the lowest, where 45% were female. In the highest pay bracket, 63% of employees were women while the company's executive teams have a 50-50 split.
The report pointed out some of the firm's recent fair pay initiatives, including Pan Macmillan advertising salaries on job adverts for roles where salaries are up to £45,000, alongside a family leave scheme.
Borlenghi said: “Our gender pay gap results illustrate that MPIL is broadly balanced. We are confident that men and women are being paid fairly. We are pleased to have flexible, family-friendly policies, and are committed to our inclusive culture. We value the diversity of our workforce and when it comes to pay we make compensation decisions based on skill, experience and job-related criteria. We carry out regular formal benchmarking against both internal and external measures. We want to improve our inclusive culture by continuing to monitor our gender pay gap and taking a gender-balanced approach to development, progression and succession planning."