Gender and ethnicity pay report
We've published a report setting out what we're doing on gender and ethnicity pay at the British Heart Foundation.
What is the gender pay gap?
The gender pay gap is an equality measure that looks at differences in average earnings between women and men.
All employers with 250 or more employees must calculate and publish data on gender pay. This is done by taking payroll data for all employees from a 'snapshot day', which for this report was 5 April 2024.
Gender pay gap results for the BHF
The median pay was close to being equal for women and men. Men earn 98p for every £1 that a woman earns at BHF.
Our mean gender pay gap for 2024 shows that women are paid 8.06% less than men at the BHF. This is considerably lower than the national average, where women are paid 13.1% less than men.
What is the ethnicity pay gap?
The ethnicity pay gap measures the difference in average pay between white staff and ethnic minority staff regardless of the work they perform. We are voluntarily publishing data which highlights the pay gap with our ethnic minority colleagues as part of our diversity and inclusion planning.
What is our ethnicity pay gap?
In 2024, the median pay gap shows 9.17% in favour of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds. However, this number is influenced by the relatively small number of BHF colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds. Figures differ across Black, Asian and mixed-race colleagues. The largest proportion of our colleagues are based in Retail and the majority of these colleagues are white. Retail pay is paid at the industry standard, which is less than pay scales in the rest of the BHF, where colleagues from ethnic minoritised backgrounds are situated.
In this latest data our mean ethnicity pay gap was 8.06% in favour of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds, reduced from 11.04% in 2020.
Steps taken to reduce our gender and ethnicity pay-gap
In 2022, we launched of our Eqaulity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, which sets out our ambitions and commitments to increase inclusion across BHF. One of our desires is to have a 0% gender and ethnicity pay-gap.
Currently 76% of colleagues at BHF are based in retail. 92% are white and 8% are from ethnic minoritised backgrounds. Our desire is for our retail colleagues to better reflect their local communities. We have taken the following steps to reach this aim:
- We continue to focus our hyper-local recruitment project, to increase the ethnicity profile of colleagues in Retail. This will help to ensure our shops better reflect their local communities. In 2024, we observed an increase in offers to colleagues from ethnic minoritised groups, increasing to 20%, compared to 15% in 2023.
- We use a gender bias decoder software to ensure what we say in our adverts is balanced and does not deter anyone from applying.
- As part of our drive for inclusivity, all our job adverts promote our approach to flexible working from day one for all.
- We've partnered with Rare Recruitment and launched their interactive eLearning module. The module offers practical tips and advice on how to combat bias at interview stage.
- We use anonymous CV software for all positions, to help hiring managers reduce any potential bias in the shortlisting process.
- We have launched our shortlisting and interview guidance to align with inclusive recruitment practices, along with our Interview Builder software. These help to reduce the influence of unconscious bias, by providing clear criteria and standardised questions.
- We have piloted and launched interview questions in advance for our office roles and will pilot this approach in shops and stores.
The steps we are taking are overseen by our Chief Executive and our EDI Strategic Group. These steps will help chart our journey to a fairer world for our colleagues, our research community, and people affected by heart and circulatory diseases.