The UK’s biggest construction contractor, Balfour Beatty, has revealed that its gender pay gap widened over the last 12 months.
Balfour’s gender pay gap now sits at 21 per cent, up from 18 per cent in 2020. It means that for every £1 that male employees earn, female employees take home £79p.
The company attributed the change to the return to “more usual operating conditions”.
A report compiled by Balfour Beatty adds: “The recommencement of various allowances relating to travel and subsistence […] impact male earnings more than female earnings.”
Construction News understands that some Balfour Beatty employees are paid allowances as part of their regular pay packages, for instance, when they are working on site, but events such as conferences would be covered by expenses instead.
An increase in the number of women joining the company in junior positions is likely to be another reason why the pay gap has widened.
The report reveals that the proportion of low-paid workers who are women increased from 29 per cent to 33 per cent. Simultaneously, the percentage of top earners at the company who are women fell from 14 per cent to 13 per cent.
Speaking to CN earlier this month, Anthony Horrigan, chief executive of diversity consultancy Spktral, pointed out that a company actively trying to recruit more women through apprenticeships or graduate schemes may actually see its pay gap worsen as these women will be at the start of their careers and in comparatively low-paid roles.
The Balfour report adds that while the company is increasing the amount of women working across the business, the number in its lower pay quartiles would rise first as more females join its apprenticeships and graduate schemes.
“Over time, they will progress through the business and as they move upwards their salaries will increase, helping to reduce our gender pay gap,” the report adds.
Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn said he was pleased the company’s efforts to improve the diversity of its employees are “beginning to bear fruit”. In 2018, female employees were paid an average of 30 per cent less than men, compared with 21 per cent in 2021.
“While the pace of change is never as rapid as we would like, we are making steady, tangible progress in closing our gender pay gap,” he added.
Companies with more than 250 employees have had to report annually on their gender pay gap since April 2017. Any firm that does not report their pay gap on time is at risk of facing a court order or an unlimited fine from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Smaller companies can report their gender pay gap voluntarily.
CN examined the sector’s progress in closing the gender pay gap earlier this month. But a senior project manager at consultancy Gleeds, who is also chair of networking group Women in Property, said there is “still a lot of work to be done” to address pay inequality.
On International Women’s Day on March 8, CN teamed up with its sister publication, New Civil Engineer, to champion the role of women in construction and engineering. Organisations interested in making the Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge, which commits to striving for a more inclusive industry, can sign up here.
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