FDM Group pay gap lower than UK average

The mean pay gap with the firm was just 6 per cent with the median gap at 0 per cent, compared to the national average of 18.1 per cent.

FDM Group, which has its headquarters in London but employs around 500 people in Leeds, is one of only a handful of businesses to have publish their pay data, something that all business employing 250 people and higher will be required to do by March of next year.

The data is published in the same week that the firm which operates as a professional services company with a focus on IT, nudged its way into the FTSE250 for the first time.

Sheila Flavell, chief operating officer FDM Group, told The Yorkshire Post: “The truth is I was curious and I wanted to see where we were. Regardless of what the outcome was we were going to have to publish anyway within the next 12 months. I was happy that our figures came out really well with a zero per cent median pay gap and six per cent for the mean pay gap.

“There is work to be done but nonetheless the figures were promising.”

When asked why there was a mean pay gap of six per cent she said: “I think the fact that we are in technology and are an IT company. I think organisations that work in sectors where females are underrepresented like construction, finance and IT, we can expect to see a gap and that is why we are having to work very hard at all levels to make sure we can get more women into the industry and obviously into FDM.

“We are running lots of female friendly business streams to encourage more women to join. Twenty seven per cent of the workforce are women and 50 per cent senior management team are women.”

When asked if she felt the compulsion on firms to publish their pay information would have a salient effect in terms of closing the pay gap Ms Flavell used the example of Lord Davies report into the number of women sitting on FTSE100 boards and the effect it had had on improving representation.

“At that point there were very few women on boards of FTSE100 or even 250 boards,” she said. “But now there are women on every FTSE100 board.

“This is a slow burn, it is going to take time.”

FDM published the data in the same week that it was ranked as one of the top 50 employers in the UK’s first-ever Social Mobility Employer Index.

The index is a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and Social Mobility Commission, in partnership with the City of London Corporation and ranks Britain’s employers for the first time on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds and showcases progress towards improving social mobility in the workplace.

Acas Chief Executive Anne Sharp said: “Gender pay reporting is a great opportunity for employers to consider whether they can do more to develop their talented women and secure the benefits of greater gender diversity from the top to the bottom of their organisations. The UK has made progress in reducing the gender pay gap but we still have some way to go.”