Gender Pay Gap Report 2023

Thistle Seafoods Ltd

Gender Pay Gap Report 2023

Introduction

All UK organisations with over 250 employees are now required by law to carry out annual Gender Pay Reporting under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.  The report details a Company’s Gender Pay and Bonus Gaps; the percentage of men and women receiving a bonus; and the proportions of men and women in each pay quartile of the workforce.

An employer must publish six calculations showing their:

• Average gender pay gap as a mean average.
• Average gender pay gap as a median average.
• Average bonus gender pay gap as a mean average.
• Average bonus gender pay gap as a median average.
• Proportion of males receiving a bonus payment and proportion of females receiving a bonus payment.
• Proportion of males and females when divided into four groups ordered from lowest to highest pay.

These calculations are based on figures drawn from a specific date each year. This is called the ‘snapshot date’.  The snapshot date for businesses and charities is the 5th April.

It is important to know that the Gender Pay Gap is not the same as Equal Pay, and it exists in most organisations.

Equal Pay means that men and women performing equal work should generally receive equal pay.

Gender Pay Gap is the difference between men’s and women’s average hourly pay across an organisation, expressed as a percentage, and it is reported as a mean average and median average (mid-point) figure.

Some of the reported reasons for why a Gender Pay Gap exists are as follows:

• Women are often under-represented in senior roles where remuneration is higher.
• Women are more likely to take time out of their careers to start a family or have carer responsibilities; the gap typically widens when women reach the age of 40.
• Some sectors have a higher proportion of part-time roles e.g. health, retail and social care, commonly resulting in a higher proportion of women in entry level roles.
• Educational choices where fewer women work in STEM sectors – science, technology, engineering and mathematics, leading to fewer women in higher-paid specialist roles such as Finance, IT, Engineering and Logistics.

Our 2023 Reported Figures

Comparison between Current Year and Previous Years

Understanding our Gender Pay Gap

On the 5th April 2023 Thistle Seafoods employed 429 members of staff, 252 were male and 177 were female. The majority worked full time, with only one male member of staff working part-time.

Quartiles

The figures indicate that females are overrepresented in the middle-lower quartile and underrepresented in the upper middle and upper quartiles.  When looking into the data in more detail, 46% of the males in the middle-upper quartile and 76% of the males in the upper quartile are employed in engineering, stores, hygiene, and the palletising section of our chilled coding department.  If the individuals in these departments were removed from the middle-upper and upper quartiles there would be a considerable reduction in the gap between male and females in these quartiles, as illustrated in the table below.

Bonus

There were no bonuses awarded to staff.

Summary

As noted in previous years, the skew of our Gender Pay Gap is caused by our engineering, stores, hygiene, and the palletising staff of our chilled coding department, being heavily dominated by males.  During the snapshot period (6th April 2022 to 5th April 2023), 172 individuals applied for a position within our engineering department.  One was female.  When comparing this to the number of applicants the previous year, there has been an 160% increase.  More vacancies had been advertised due to the company acquiring an additional site in June 2022, but despite this the number of female applicants did not increase.

The increase in applications was not mirrored in the 2022 engineering apprenticeship intake.  We saw a reduction from 84 applications the previous year to 30 this year.  Out of those that applied only one was female.  As per previous years, all candidates were invited to take part in the second stage of the selection process, which involves completing a numerical and comprehension test online.  The one female who applied, did not complete the tests, and therefore did not progress to the next stage.

Our Stores, Hygiene and Chilled Coding palletising positions are advertised both internally and externally.  We are honest regarding the requirements of the role, for example, for stores and chilled coding palletising they must be able to lift weights up to 25kg and be willing to work in very cold conditions (up to -20°C); and for hygiene there is a lot of manual handling, they need to be willing to work in a wet environment and work unsociable hours.  We have had no female applicants for these positions.  It is unclear why; however, it could be due to the requirements of the role and the working environment.

Closing the Gap Further

As previously reported fewer woman work in STEM sectors, and although there have been several initiatives implemented to try and encourage females into these sectors, little progress has been made.  Data from Women in STEM Statistics https://www.stemwomen.com/women-in-stem-percentages-of-women-in-stem-statistics report a year on year increase in the number of females in STEM sectors, however, there is still considerable work to be done before it is at the same level as the number of males, as shown in the below table.

When looking more specifically at the number of women in engineering, the results show that there has only been a 4% increase in six years, with an average increase of 1% every two years.

Thistle Seafoods will continue to implement a fair recruitment process.  Internally all employees have the opportunity to apply for positions advertised, and they are encouraged to do so.  We provide extensive training to aid staff development, and to provide opportunities to those who might not currently have the necessary skills, experience, or qualifications but have a desire to progress.  With regards to external candidates, we use a variety of recruitment methods such, attending careers fairs; advertising on our company website and social media sites, an across job boards such as Indeed and Glassdoor; and we use approved recruitment agencies.  The same screening process is applied to all applications, candidates participate in the same selection process, and we employ the candidate most suitable for the role.

Approval for this statement

This statement was approved by the Board of Directors on 14th March 2024.

Pamela Macdougall

14th March 2024