Gender Pay Gap Reporting 2017

Founded in 1961, the Higgins Group is a family run Group of Companies, with values focussed on the needs of Clients and the well-being of staff.  We have built a reputation as one of the most forward thinking construction companies in the UK.  Recruiting and retaining good people has been central to Higgins’ success for over 50 years.  We understand the importance of career development and training for every individual at every level and are continuously investing in new training and development initiatives.

We believe that creating an environment where people can work, grow and succeed, irrespective of their gender, is vital to our success.

The Higgins Group is an Equal Opportunities employer and strives to pay employees equally for the same, or equivalent, work.

Under Government legislation it is now statutory for organisations with 250 or more employees to annually report on their gender pay gap.

The six key metrics required by the legislation are as follows:

1. The difference in the mean pay of full-pay men and women, expressed as a percentage
2. The difference in the median pay of full-pay men and women, expressed as a percentage
3. The difference in mean bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
4. The difference in median bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
5. The proportion of men and women who received bonus pay
6. The proportion of full-pay men and women in each of four quartile pay bands

Following the above principals of the six key metrics for Higgins Group, the figures have been calculated and are shown as follows:

• The mean gender pay gap is 40.05%
• The median gender pay gap is 32.41%
• The mean gender bonus gap is 93.45%
• The median gender bonus gap is 26.76%
• The proportion of male employees receiving a bonus is 60.83% and the proportion of female employees receiving a bonus is 83.14%

Pay Quartiles by Gender

Whilst acknowledging that we do have a gender pay gap, it should be highlighted that we operate in the construction industry, which has historically been male dominated and this gap is the result of the roles in which men and women work within the industry and the salaries that these roles attract.

The Directors of all Group companies are male and are incentivised with a bonus structure that forms a significant part of their remuneration package. Furthermore, the working shareholders, who are also Directors, have elected to receive bonus in lieu of dividend return on their investment. This has a significant impact on the mean gender “bonus” gap.

We recognise that whilst the Construction industry generally attracts a higher proportion of males into the workplace, Higgins is committed to addressing gender representation and supporting women in the workplace.

More men than women apply for roles within the industry and we will continue to look at development opportunities and ways to attract and select more women into senior roles to gain a higher percentage of female representation into both management level and senior management roles across the business.

We will continue to promote career development practices within the Company, to ensure that there are opportunities for women to move up the career ladder;

We will continue to support all our employees, across all roles, to enable them to reach their full potential.

Produced Monday 26^th March 2018