Builders’ Merchant Reports Improving Gender Pay Gap

THE GENDER PAY GAP halved compared to the previous year, at Travis Perkins plc, the largest UK building materials supplier and parent company of Toolstation, Wickes and other specialist trade businesses.

The mean gender pay gap measures the average pay difference between Travis Perkins’ 28,000 male and female employees. Across the Group, it narrowed to 5% in 2020 from 10% in 2019. The median improvement showed a nearly 8% improvement on the previous year to 3% in 2020 from 11% in 2019.

In the whole the Group, the balance across the pay quartiles also improved. At the forefront of closing the gap was the company’s Toolstation business. At Toolstation, the pay gap is now 0.6%, and there is a consistent distribution of gender across all quartile roles.

Pay Gap Initiatives

In line with the Gender Pay Gap Regulations, Travis Perkins has reported annually on women and men’s pay since 2017. The pay gap was found to be particularly significant in the male dominated construction industry. The company says it has accelerated a number of strategic initiatives to narrow the pay gap that still exists.

Group HR Director, Emma Rose said, “Last year we made significant progress in narrowing the gender pay gap in our business and achieved some major milestones on our journey to become a more inclusive employer. This involved making significant progress towards paying the Real Living Wage to our colleagues, and launching new, progressive Family Leave policies,” explained.

“We have much more to do but our progress this year is an indication of the passion and energy we have to be seen as a modern and inclusive employer.  We will continue to accelerate this progress by committing to attract a more diverse range of colleagues to our business, which can only benefit our culture, ways of working, and of course, business performance,” Emma concluded.

The Travis Perkins Gender Pay Gap Report 2020 is available here. It includes combined data for the Travis Perkins Group, as well as data for the Group’s individual businesses that have more than 250 employees.