Weetabix Food Company UK & Ireland is one of the first manufacturing companies to publish its gender pay gap results. Group HR director Stuart Branch outlines what this means for the broader diversity agenda within the business.
Investing in talent is at the forefront of our business strategy at Weetabix, and the company works hard to grow talent internally, as well as recruit the right people for the business. I always have a strong interest in motivating people and getting the very best out of a workforce.
We’re continually evolving and have crafted a dynamic working environment, where people are encouraged to learn new skills, make a difference, and progress within the company.
Highlighting the gender pay gap
We currently have about 1,100 employees, and roughly 67% of these are male and 33% are female.
In terms of gender pay, there is a gap in our business and we are not proud of it - we recognise there's more to do. However, we’ve closed the gap by 3.7% over the past year, and in the last few years we have been working on addressing any unconscious biases within the business.
We’re keen to get our message out about how important it is for us as a business to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.
Eradicating unconscious bias
We have been looking at data, policies and procedures to make sure we don’t have any unconscious bias.
This will involve considering where males and females are in salary bandings in the organisation to make sure always paying on merit and gender doesn’t creep into any decision making.
Promoting equal opportunities
At Weetabix building a team is about talent first and foremost, regardless of gender. We’re constantly striving to create a genuinely inclusive environment that allows anyone and everyone to flourish.
While we’re serious about creating quality products and innovating to meet changing customer needs, we also want to ensure Weetabix is a great place to work.
Along with cultivating a workplace that’s diverse, Weetabix is a company that promises career progression too. Thanks to our flat, flexible organisational design, we’re able to offer our staff the opportunity to test their skills in different situations, allowing them to grow into new roles and responsibilities.
Our senior management team, founded on retained talent, is living proof of our commitment to both gender diversity and the rewards hard work can earn.
Ultimately, a company is only as good as the people within it, so we’re committed to making our workplace as fair, empowering and inclusive as it can be.
Steps to success
We've found the following steps to be particularly successful in promoting equal opportunities across the workforce:
- Working to remove barriers that prevent people from being at their best, e.g. with working hours we now have flexible working hours so they don’t suit some people more than others.
Through our Weetabix people survey, we are getting really good feedback on policies like this and can see that they are being well respected and appreciated by the team.
- Empowering everyone to make a difference and ensuring line managers understand their role in creating the right environment to make the difference.
By promoting a wider environment where people can succeed in area, you can make your organisation an attractive place to work and continue to attract and retain the best talent – both men and women.
We recognise the key difference the line manager can make in terms of how engaged and effective each person in their team is within the business.