Gender pay gap reports

Since publishing our gender pay gap last year, we have seen a reduction in our median gender pay gap from 8.1% to 7.6% which is very positive.

The mean gender pay gap has increased, and reflects an overall increase in the number of females on our staff across all levels of the organisation. What is particularly encouraging is representation in the first three quartiles is consistent and we have seen a considerable increase in females in quartile 3 up from 57% last year.

As explained in the previous report, we have been working to address the gender balance in the Museum, particularly at the leadership level, and are pleased that the data reflects these efforts.

The gender pay gap explained

The gender pay gap shows the differences between average pay between men and women. It is not the same as equal pay. At the Natural History Museum, we pay men and women the same rate for doing the same job. We have a clear grading system which provides for roles to be paid equally and are currently reviewing all aspects of our reward structures.

Reporting our gender pay gap

The below information is based on data from our latest pay gap report in April 2023.

Pay difference

The mean pay difference in hourly pay between male and female employees is 13.3% (up from 11.5% in 2022)

The median pay difference in hourly pay between male and female employees is 7.6% (down from 8.1% in 2022) 

No bonuses were paid in 2022/23

Percentage of staff

We examined the percentage of male and female staff and split the data by hourly rates in four equal groups, or quartiles. Quartile 1 shows the lowest hourly rates and quartile 4 shows the highest.

Quartile 1 breakdown:

67.6% Female

32.4% Male

Quartile 2 breakdown:

61.3% Female

38.7% Male

Quartile 3 breakdown:

63.3% Female

36.7% Male

Quartile 4 breakdown:

47% Female

53% Male

The gender split across the whole Museum is 59.2% female, 39.7% male and 1.2% non binary.

We know we can do better and are committed to addressing the gender imbalance in the most senior level in the Museum. We have seen a shift again with employing more females at the lowest quartiles and have increased the percentage of females in the third quartile which is encouraging. Our turnover at upper levels remains low which contributes to some stagnation in that upper quartile.

We are proud to be an employer that is committed to hybrid working, maintaining the flexibility of working from home for our staff post- pandemic and feel that this has made a positive contribution to an overall increase of females in the workforce.  

Taking action to reduce our gender pay gap

We are continuing to work on our diversity strategy and action plan to ensure we create a workplace in which people feel included and valued. The strategy focuses on all aspects of diversity including gender.

In the last year we have improved our recruitment practices to mitigate bias; set internal recruitment targets to try and move people up within the organisation; trained our managers in inclusive leadership and launched mentoring and talent pool programmes.

As we move forward we will continue with these all these programmes as well as introduce new initiatives to support women in the workplace. For example this year, we are introducing an Aspiring Managers programme to upskill staff to be able to take career moves more quickly, running mandatory Tackling bias in the workplace training to raise awareness of sexism and how to challenge this effectively, and implementing an ongoing seminar programme of managing inclusively as well as introducing a Domestic Abuse policy.