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      • OUR CSR APPROACH:

        BAKING GOOD BETTER

        PILLAR #1

        PLANET

        PILLAR #2

        PEOPLE

        PILLAR #3

        PRODUCT & KNOW HOW

 

 

Gender Pay Gap Report 

 

 

This report sets out the gender pay gap statistics for Délifrance (UK) Ltd in relation to the reporting year of 2023-24.


Introduction


Under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, Délifrance (UK) Ltd is legally required to publish, on an annual basis, specified information relating to our gender pay gap. The data presented relates to the snapshot date of 5th April 2024.


The following information has been calculated in accordance with the Regulations and is legally compliant.


The Gender Pay Gap


The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage. The gap is calculated across the entire workforce of an organisation.
The gender pay gap has many contributing factors which will differ from organisation to organisation, across sectors and across geographical locations. These factors may or may not be unlawful or discriminatory, guided by society or cultural aspects, or as a result of internal organisational practices.


It is crucial to our understanding of gender pay disparity to recognise that the gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay is where there is a discriminatory pay difference between men and women who carry out the same job, jobs rated as equivalent or work of equal value. The existence of a gender pay gap does not automatically give rise to any discrimination or equal pay matters.


The purpose of publishing the gender pay gap is not to confirm compliance with the law; rather it is a way to show the relative equality of jobs being shared amongst men and women in an organisation using pay as a guide to the job’s worth.


Organisational Context


Délifrance is one of the leading bakery players in the UK food industry supplying the major retailers and food service outlets with premium speciality breads and Viennoiserie. Our two manufacturing sites in the UK are in Southall in West London and in Wigston in Leicestershire. In April 2024, we employed 449 people – a slight increase compared with out April 2023 headcount. 67% of our employees are male and 33% female. This gender imbalance is because the food manufacturing sector has traditionally attracted more men than women and is because of concerns about unsocial hours and shift patterns and misconceptions about factory work being dirty and physically demanding. Instead, jobs in the Retail and Service sector have been seen as more attractive by women because of more social hours and the working environment. 

 

Our Commitment to Equality and Diversity


We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and job applicants. We aim to create a working environment in which everyone is able to make best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment and in which all decisions are based on merit. We do not discriminate against staff on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

We employ people of many different backgrounds and heritages and are proud of our diversity. We promote this throughout the year by celebrating a variety of cultural and religious festivals. In 2023, we introduced a new Hybrid Working Policy giving colleagues greater flexibility around remote working. This advantages both men and women and enables those that can work from home to better balance their home and work lives. 


Gender Pay Gap


In the information below, the Mean and Median Hourly Pay and Bonus Gaps between men and women are expressed as a percentage difference to the men’s pay and bonus values. This means that a positive value indicates a gap in favour of men and a negative value in favour of women. You can see that the statistics on the Median Hourly Pay Gap in the chart below show that women have been earning comparatively more than men for 5 of the past 8 years but that based on the Average Hourly Pay Gap, men's pay rates have been consistently higher than women's. 

 

Mean Gender Pay Gap


Based on the mean (average) hourly rate of pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our Mean Gender Pay Gap is 9.6%*.


This means that men earn on average 9.6% more than women. In 2022/3, the gap was 12% and so we can see an improvement compared with the previous year. This is likely to be because there has been a significant increase in the number of women in the Lower Middle, Upper Middle and Upper Quartiles since the previous year. We believe this could be because we have been recruiting women into positions with more responsibility in the past year.  


Median Gender Pay Gap


We believe that the Median is probably a more accurate measure of the Gender Pay Gap because it neutralizes the extreme ends of the data. Based on the median (middle) hourly rate of pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our Median Gender Pay Gap is 0.14%* with men receiving 2p an hour more than women using this measure.

This demonstrates that men earn 0.14% more than women when we look at the midpoint for both genders. This compares with a gap of 6.3% between men and women last year and is a significant improvement.


Gender Bonus Gap


Mean Gender Bonus Gap


Based on the Mean (average) Bonus Pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our Mean Gender Bonus Gap is 0.9%* in favour of men. This is a great improvement compare to last year when we had a gap of 38% in favour of men.

This year 57% of women qualified for a Bonus compared to 54% in 2022/23 - so a small increase. However, the percentage of men qualifying has increased dramatically against last year with 73% qualifying compared with only 29% of males last year. This is because we made a one-off Bonus payment to our Weekly Paid employees at Southall site because of the move from Weekly to Monthly Pay. Because of the demographic of the team based in Southall, most of these colleagues were male. Next year, we are moving to a Universal Bonus Scheme which means that all employees will be eligible for some form of Bonus linked to Company and Individual Performance. 

 

Median gender bonus gap


Based on the Median (middle) Bonus Pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our Median Gender Bonus Gap is 28% in favour of Women. This was 0% last year.

This shows that women earn 28% more in bonuses compared with men when we look at the midpoint for both genders. The Median Bonus for men in 2023/4 was £350 compared to £800 for women. This is the result of the skewing of our Bonus numbers caused by the one-off payment made to Weekly paid Colleagues at Southall for moving to Monthly pay referred to in the previous paragraph. By contrast, the size of the Bonuses paid to women reflected their level of responsibility in the business and are linked to their performance which explains why the Female Median was higher.

*Rounded to one decimal place

 

The chart below tracks the 2 measures over the past 8 years.

Quartile Pay Bands

 

The following chart summarises the proportions of relevant male and female full time employees in the lower, lower-middle, upper-middle and upper quartile pay bands looking at this year and the year before:

 

 

This is probably the most significant of the charts in this document because it shows the progress we have made in increasing the % of Women in the higher paid roles and in reducing the number in the lowest paid positions.  

 

Bonus Proportions

 

This table shows the proportions of male and female relevant employees who were paid bonus pay during the relevant period:

 

 

The % refers to the proportion of male employees who received a Bonus and the proportion of female employees who received one and not the relative % of male to female employees. 

 

Comment


Looking at these numbers, you can see that we have achieved effective pay parity in 2 of the 4 indicators in 2023/4: namely the Median Gender Pay Gap and the Mean Gender Bonus Gap. Furthermore, the Median Gender Pay Gap of 0.14% compares very favourably with the National Gender Pay Gap Median of 14.2% as published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for April 2024.  

 

We have been delighted to see an increase in the number of women in the Upper and Upper Middle Quartiles this year. We continue to be committed to 40% of the Delifrance UK and I Board Members being female and we have achieved this target for the past 3 years despite leavers in that team. We look forward to increasing the number of women in the workforce as a whole and to promoting a culture in which career progression is available for all. We are focussed on seeing an improvement in our Gender Pay Gap metrics in the coming years.

 

Confirmation


I confirm that I have reviewed the data used and the calculation of the Gender Pay Gap and Bonus Pay Gap and Bonus Pay Gap and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the required elements are accurately expressed in accordance with the regulations.

 

Niall Cogan
General Manager, Délifrance (UK) Ltd