Gender Pay Gap

• The mean gender pay gap for Pacifica is 28.9%
• The median gender pay gap for Pacifica is 22.8%
• The mean gender bonus gap for Pacifica is 46.2%
• The median gender bonus gap for Pacifica is 80.9%
• The proportion of male employees in Pacifica receiving a bonus is 40.6%
• The proportion of female employees receiving a bonus is 35.8%

Pay quartiles by gender
Band	Males	Females	Description
A	49.0%	51.0%	Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them at or below the lower quartile
B	64.4%	35.6%	Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the lower quartile but at or below the median
C	79.4%	20.6%	Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the median but at or below the upper quartile
D	89.1%	10.9%	Includes all employees whose standard hourly rate places them above the upper quartile

 

The figures set out above have been calculated using the standard methodologies used in the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

What are the underlying causes of Pacifica’s gender pay gap?

Under the law, men and women must receive equal pay for:

• the same or broadly similar work;
• work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme; or
• work of equal value.

Our Equal Pay

• Mean Equal Pay Gap = 28.9%
• Median Equal Pay Gap = 22.8%

Pacifica is committed to the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment for all employees, regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, age, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or disability. It has a clear policy of paying employees equally for the same or equivalent work, regardless of their sex (or any other characteristic set out above). As such, it:

• carries out pay and benefits audits at regular intervals;
• provides regular equal pay training for all managers and other staff members who are involved in pay reviews; and
• evaluates job roles and pay grades as necessary to ensure a fair structure.

Pacifica’s gender pay gap does not stem from paying men and women differently for the same or equivalent work. The gap is the result of the roles men and women undertake and the salaries these roles attract.

We have made improvements throughout the year, providing all employees with additional work-related benefits and are continually striving to make our team more inclusive. However, the sector and company still lacks the diversity we desire which is what’s driving our gender pay gap. Whilst a pay gap is still present, we remain fully committed to improving this further this through targeted action. Achieving these goals and closing our pay gaps won’t be quick or easy, but we believe that aiming high is the right approach and we’re confident we can deliver tangible change over time.

Currently, across the UK economy, men are more likely than women to be in senior roles, notably in ‘C-suite’ positions, while women more commonly to take up roles at the front-line of businesses.

This UK-wide pattern is reflected in the make-up of Pacifica’s workforce, where the majority of front-line customer assistants within its call centres are women with the majority of senior management roles and executive team positions are held by men.

In addition, as a result of the long-standing culture and legacy of the appliance services industry, the majority of field based and senior manager roles such as Appliance Repair Engineers and Technical Service Management roles are typically held by men. With around 50% of Pacifica’s workforce being directly employed in the role of Appliance Repair Engineer (or similar), this produces a disproportionate result when measuring the Gender Pay Gap using the governments recommended methodologies.

This can be seen above in the table depicting pay quartiles by gender. This shows Pacifica‘s workforce divided into four equal-sized groups based on hourly pay rates, with Band A including the lowest-paid 25% of employees (the lower quartile) and B and D covering the highest-paid 25% (the upper quartile). In order for there to be no gender pay gap, there would need to be an equal ratio of men to women in each Band. Within Pacifica, this is almost achieved in Band A with a split of 51% of the employees women and 49% men. The percentage of male employees increases throughout the remaining Bands, with 64.4% men in B, to 79.4% in Band C to 89.1% in band D.

What is Pacifica doing to address its gender pay gap?

While Pacifica's gender pay gap compares favourably with that of organisations within the service sector, the company is not complacent. It is committed to reducing the gap wherever possible.

However, Pacifica also recognises that its scope to act is limited in some areas - it has, for example, no direct control over the subjects that individuals choose to study or the career choices that they make.

To date, the steps that Pacifica has taken to promote gender diversity in all areas of its workforce include the following:

• Revising the flexible working policy
• Supporting parents inside and outside of work
• To identify any barriers to gender equality and make informed priorities for action
• To create flexible training to ensure opportunity is provided to all genders who are looking to take up the various roles within the business
• To create opportunity for female entrants into the traditional male dominated technical roles through our female engineer recruitment programme

None of these initiatives will, of itself, remove the gender pay gap - and it may be several years before some have any impact at all. In the meantime, Pacifica is committed to reporting on an annual basis the initiatives it implements to place to reduce the gender pay gap and the progress that it is making.

Right now, Pacifica has plans to extend its consultation exercise across all areas and levels of the organisation to identify the barriers (and the drivers) for women employees. Our Diversity and Inclusion plan is gradually enabling us to attract, promote and retain more diverse talent so we’ll continue to embed it in 2024, which will help us close our pay gap over time.

In the coming year, Pacifica is also committed to:

• reviewing its policy on bonus payments and pay structure
• investigating affordable childcare options with local providers
• continuing recruitment drives and education for women in a male dominated industry
• implementing our D&I action plan to promote our culture of inclusion

Any further initiatives launched throughout the year will be reported in the next report.