STEM initiatives key to tackle gender pay gap in manufacturing

Analysis by Pinsent Masons has found that women working for large manufacturing companies are paid 8.05% less per hour than men in 2023-24, showing a slight decrease from the 8.6% average for 2021-22. The pay difference in the UK’s manufacturing sector is the lowest average of all of the sectors which have been analysed, such as the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), infrastructure and financial services sectors.

However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a higher national average median pay gap of 15.9% for the manufacturing sector in 2023 in comparison to the data on the UK government’s gender pay gap data portal. The discrepancy is a result of the different sets of companies surveyed. The ONS considers data from all companies, while the government portal data only includes 1,312 employers in the manufacturing sector that have 250 or more employees and are obliged to report their gender pay gap.

Within the companies which reported their gender pay gap data this year, the average difference in the median bonus payments to men and women stood at -13.3%, which means women receive greater bonuses than men. This is in stark contrast to the mean difference in bonus payments where men receive more than women. The data analysed by Pinsent Masons suggests that there are some significant outlying figures where men in senior positions receive significant bonus payments in UK manufacturing.

The analysis also found that, although many manufacturing companies reported that women are paid more in bonus payments than men, in 26 companies where male bonuses were paid, no female bonuses were paid.

Underlying causes of the pay gap within UK manufacturing

Employment law expert Neil Black of Pinsent Masons said that the data demonstrates the continued efforts being made by large businesses in the manufacturing sector to close their gender pay gap. Black noted that this chimes with his own experience of dealing with clients across the sector who are working hard to close the pay gap. However, he said that these efforts had to be set against the long-standing challenges facing the sector, as the sector pay gap has its roots in historic societal and educational norms: the manufacturing sector and the ‘STEM’ subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths have historically attracted more men than women. This is an issue that persists even today and the majority of STEM graduates in 2024 continue to be male, making recruitment of female graduates into the sector more difficult. 

In addition to graduate recruitment challenges, male employees still fill more senior or specialised positions across the manufacturing sector than female employees due to the historical pattern. These positions typically receive a higher rate of pay.

Shift patterns, offshore work and anti-social hours are some of the reasons the manufacturing workforce still remains predominantly male. Another issue contributing to the pay gap in the sector is that male employees tend to have better paid, more office-based roles in field sales and manufacturing than female employees.

The lingering effect of the pandemic impacted the gender pay gap of most companies across the sectors, but even more so in manufacturing. A large proportion of staff were furloughed, and shift work was reduced in 2020; the majority of employees whose incomes were affected were men. This has been acknowledged as skewing the results of the gender pay gap, so the gap in 2020-21 was in fact greater in reality than the figures suggested.

Positive action by employers

Despite these persisting challenges, Black noted that large companies are committed to making progress through their focus on attracting and, crucially, retaining female employees. These challenges also represent an opportunity for the sector as the promotion of inclusion is not only the right thing to do, but also gives those in the sector who are taking the lead on this issue access to a broader and better pool of talent.

One of the most prominent actions taken by companies in the sector to address the gender pay gap is to put programmes in place to encourage women to think of a career in STEM. This has been done through early career programmes, partnerships with universities, and apprenticeship programmes.

Dyson UK, for example, has put a focus on encouraging women to enter into the engineering field through the James Dyson Foundation and the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology. The company reported that 34% of Dyson undergraduates identify as female, in comparison to 21% on UK engineering undergraduate courses.

Diageo has introduced a five-year partnership with Herriot Watt University and, through this, four female students are already enrolled in the Diageo Scholarship. Shell UK also has initiatives to inspire more women to pursue STEM-based jobs, such as encouraging female leaders in training to share their experiences.

Recruitment strategies are also important for companies to reduce their gender pay gap. They include targeted recruitment to inspire women via STEM initiatives or returners’ programmes, putting in place flexible or remote working policies, reviews of succession planning to support women into more senior roles, and leadership and mentoring schemes.

Siemens Mobility is one of the employers which has implemented targeted recruitment and set diversity targets. It is on track to achieve 50:50 gender parity in all of its early careers programmes by 2025.

Some companies are taking steps to address the lack of representation of women in more specialist roles, while others are using gender neutral language in job adverts and supporting diverse recruiting panels to reduce their gender pay gap.

A few employers are supporting gender equality even further by improving their family leave policies, which in turn increases the number of women who return to work after maternity leave. For instance, Group 1 Automotive has provided an enhanced maternity policy intended to suit working families and improve retention of female employees.

Several companies have tapped into external consultants to improve their gender equality and career development initiatives. Samsung UK is one of them. It has deepened its partnership with consulting firm Everywoman to give colleagues access to resources, advice and mentoring to support career progression. They have held webinars on topics such as Imposter Syndrome & Confidence and Stepping In & Stepping Up from family leave.

According to the HR Data Hub’s report on Gender Pay Gap: A Review of the FTSE100, the top five most common actions taken in the manufacturing sector to decrease the gender pay gap are: the use of internal networking groups, dedicated leadership programmes, diversity & inclusion awareness training, targeted development programmes, and setting diversity targets.