Introduction
At CRU, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where every individual across our global organisation has equal opportunities to succeed. As part of our reporting obligations in the UK, we are sharing our 2024 Gender Pay Gap Report, coinciding with our milestone of reaching 250 employees in the UK.
Under UK regulations, employers with 250 or more employees as of 4 April each year are required to report the gender pay gap difference in pay and bonuses between male and female employees within their organisation
The aim of the regulations is to increase transparency around gender pay disparities and to encourage employers to take action to close the gap. It is worth noting that this is not the same as equal pay. The UK’s Equality Act 2010 is the principle of paying equal wages for equal work and is enforced to eliminate pay disparities between men and women who perform jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar working conditions.
In summary, our gender pay gap difference for 2024 is primarily due to a historical higher proportion of men in senior roles. However, we are committed to addressing these gaps by continuing our focus on ensuring fair compensation, actively seeking new key talent, and retaining and developing our employees to support their career journeys.
Our Continuous Focus
Although this is our first year of public reporting, we continue our focus on employee development and attracting new diverse talent into the business. Recently, we have promoted more women to senior grades, including positions on the group Executive Board.
Following our 2024 employee engagement survey, we maintained high results in key focus areas of CRU’s reputation amongst our workforce and strong internal brand, achieving an employee net promoter score (eNPS) of 37. Since 2019, we are also pleased to see continued highly scoring areas in our engagement surveys of our colleagues being proud of where they work and CRU having a culture that is open to new ideas and promotes diversity of thoughts.
We are also committed to making our recruitment process as inclusive as possible. We endeavour to use gender-neutral language in our job adverts to attract a diverse range of candidates and reach people through a variety of channels. We also work with universities and apprenticeship providers to widen our talent pool and ensure everyone has equal opportunity to join our company.
Our employees are an asset to CRU, and we have strength in our development and learning across our offices. Our pay philosophy is to pay fairly against market which we do through regular analysis and reviews of our pay structures, bonus planning and salary benchmarking. We also offer a range of core and flexible benefits, including hybrid working and flexible working arrangements to support personal commitments and promote a healthier work-life balance.
Our Future Plans
Following our 2024 review, and to ensure we continue to take meaningful steps to increase our inclusivity in our workplace, we will be looking to continue to gain deeper insights from our global teams through pulse surveys and focus groups to ensure everyone has their opportunity to share experiences, perspectives, and ideas on how we can continue our journey to make CRU a more equitable workplace. We know that change takes time, but we are committed to supporting our people and making purposeful improvements from the feedback gathered.
UK Gender Pay Gap Reporting Data and Analysis
At the snapshot date of April 2024, we had a split of 37% female and 63% male employees in the UK. It was clear that there were less females at senior levels, as shown here in the pay quarters, which attributes to the pay gaps and bonus gaps below:
- 22.7% of female employees in the upper hourly pay quarter (nb highest paid jobs)
- 35.0% of female employees in the upper middle hourly pay quarter
- 39.5% of female employees in the lower middle hourly pay quarter
- 50.0% each of both female and male employees in the lower hourly pay quarter (nb lowest paid jobs)
A median gender pay gap of 16.1% - measuring the middle (median) earnings of male employees compared to the middle earnings of female employees. An easy translation is that for a £1 earned by a male here at CRU in the UK, our female employee earned 84p.
78.4% of female employees received bonus pay, compared with 75.3% of male employees. However the median bonus pay gap was 28.3% lower than men’s. Again, this is attributed to more male employees at senior levels here at CRU.
Our Commitment
Tackling the gender pay gap is a continuous process, and we are dedicated to making ongoing meaningful improvements. We will keep tracking our progress and refining our approaches to ensure they align with our DEI objectives. By fostering a culture of growth and advancement within our organisation, we aim to create a thriving environment for all employees to succeed.
Eleanor Simmons, Global Head of HR
