Monday 4 December 2017

Oil giant Shell reveals 23% UK gender pay gap

Oil giant Shell has revealed female staff working for the company in the UK earn 23% less than men.

It said there are two main reasons for the gender pay gap - fewer women are in senior leadership positions and less women are working in technical or trading roles that attract higher levels of pay.

It added in the UK, only 25% of all graduates in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are women and in engineering and technology, the figure is just 14%.

Therefore, it cannot recruit enough highly skilled female staff as there is an industry-wide shortage.

However, Shell said it is making progress in addressing the representation gap as the percentage of women in senior management roles rose from 12% to 27% between 2005 and 2017.

The figures have been published as the government now requires organisations with more than 250 employees to publish gender pay gap figures every year in an attempt to tackle workplace inequality.

Sinead Lynch, Shell UK Country Chair said: “Equal pay ensures men and women are paid equally for work of equal value.

“We know it will take time and we will continue to tackle the root causes of imbalance. This includes sponsoring and engaging in STEM programmes for girls, working to eliminate any unconscious bias in our systems, processes and policies and continuing to foster a culture of inclusion at every level.”