Gender Pay Report 2023

An introduction from our Chief People Officer

Equity, diversity and inclusion has always been at our core, ensuring we value the difference in our colleagues and reflect the customers and communities we serve. The launch of our People Promise in 2021 supported our focus on gender representation – something which our industry has traditionally struggled with.

“In the last few years we’ve made significant progress in this space and as such, women now make up 38% of our workforce and in FY23, women accounted for 54% of all colleagues promoted and 63% of senior leadership appointments.

“I’m also pleased to report our mean average pay gap has dropped significantly and is now almost half of what it was in 2021. There has also been a reduction in our median pay gap by 2.4% from 2022.

“We know there’s still more to do to close the gap completely and we are committed to creating a workplace which we can be proud of. Over the next 12 months we will continue to invest in our colleagues, make improvements to the way we work and drive forward our ED&I agenda to support our progress.”

Stuart Price, Chief People Officer
Stuart Price, Chief People Officer

The shape of our workforce

1,400

colleagues

38%

female colleagues

40%

of our senior leadership are women

What is Gender Pay Gap reporting?

Gender pay gap reporting requires legal entities with more than 250 colleagues to report and publish their pay gap between males and females.

Zenith Group has a number of employing legal entities. Of these, for the gender pay reporting period 2023, two have more than 250 employees – Zenith Vehicle Contracts Limited and CVFS, so are legally reportable.

In the interests of clarity and transparency, we have provided a voluntary aggregated figure which covers the whole of the Zenith Group. We believe this is consistent with the spirit of the Gender Pay Gap reporting legislation whilst still complying with our reporting obligations and, looking at the data in this way supports our aim to reduce the pay gap across all areas of our Group.

The focus of this report is on Zenith Group, however figures for the individual reportable entities can be found in the appendices.

It should be noted that the Gender Pay Gap differs from equal pay. Equal pay is about ensuring employees are paid the same for like or similar work, irrespective of someone’s background. A gender pay gap can exist even though pay is equal for same or similar roles. This is usually caused by the gender profile of the workforce.

Zenith’s 2023 Gender Pay Gap

(Zenith Group combined)
Since 2022, our mean average pay gap has reduced by 4%; and now sits at almost half of what it was in 2021.

Mean and median pay gaps

2023 2022 2021
Mean (average) gender pay gap 10.97% 15% 20.7%
Median gender pay gap 15.97% 18.41% 14.1%
chart showing gender gap pay

Across the group as a whole (Zenith Group combined), the average calculated hourly rate difference between males and females has reduced from circa £3.03 in 2022 to £2.09 in 2023 (closing the gap by £0.94).

Zenith’s 2023 Gender Bonus Gap

(Zenith Group combined) We have seen a reduction in both the mean and median bonus gaps, and although they still appear to favour males more than females, it is important to consider that the calculation of any gender bonus difference is based on the actual bonus received, regardless of hours worked. The bonus figures do not just take into account the annual bonus scheme in place, any other types of bonus payments made to colleagues are also factored in.

Percentage of colleagues receiving a bonus

2023 2022 2021
Male 46.06% 44.9% 44.6%
Female 62.14% 55% 60.4%

Mean and median bonus gaps

2023 2022 2021
Mean (average) bonus pay gap 58.4% 61% 55.4%
Median bonus pay gap 2.27% 16.9% 0%

Closing the gap

To support improvements in our gender pay and bonus differences, we have introduced a number of initiatives over the past year to help build a more diverse and inclusive workplace for everyone, at each stage in their career.

Inclusive recruitment
  • Introduced a new recruitment training programme for all managers, which incorporates Unconscious Bias and focuses on behaviours that support a role, allowing us to consider a broader talent pool.
  • Increased female representation at senior level. As part of the Automotive 30% Club, Zenith pledged to work towards 30% of our Leadership Board being female by 2030. 2023 saw our first female appointment to the Leadership Board, Gemma Bacon, Chief Marketing Officer. At SLT and Director level we now have a split of 40% female and 60% male.
  • Early careers
    Throughout FY24, our mission has been to bring in more females into the workplace through our early careers programme.

  • Our 2023 intake of apprenticeships saw 14 females and 13 males joining us on an apprentice contract, with four of those females being based in our workshops, which is great step forward for our STEM qualifications.
  • Placement and work experience students saw a similar success with 37/63 for work placements and 46/54 for work experience split between females/males.
  • Engagement
    We have six focus groups which colleagues can be part of, one of which is dedicated to gender.
    Over the last 12 months, our Gender focus groups has:

  • Celebrated International Women’s Day and International Men’s Day with key note speakers to raise awareness of different issues.

  • Set up a Parental Support Group - which has celebrated World Breastfeeding Week, recognised Baby Loss Awareness Week and educated on shared parental leave.

  • Supported Zenith to become a member of the Automotive 30% Club.
  • Support and development
  • We have introduced a performance management programme to support all colleagues with personal growth, making it easier to navigate their career.
  • In FY23 we saw many colleagues promoted internally to a more senior role, of which 54% were females.
  • Pay and benefits
  • Our pay increase for 2023 provided an across-the-board increase for most colleagues.
  • In November 2022 we gave all colleagues a Cost-of-living payment to recognise and support with the increased cost of living.

  • We cover the cost of all menopause-related prescriptions for colleagues and run a dedicated Menopause support group.
  • I can confirm that the information in this report is accurate and meets the requirements of Regulations 2017 (Gender Pay Gap information) of the Equality Act 2010.

    Stuart Price signature

     


    Stuart Price

    CPO
    Zenith

    Appendix

    CVFS

    Mean (average) gender pay gap Median gender pay gap Employee population receiving bonus (%) Mean (average) bonus pay gap Median bonus pay gap Gender distribution across quartiles
    LQ LMQ UMQ UQ
    M F M F M F M F M F
    27.62% 26.03% 8.76% 0% 100% 100% 85.7% 14.3% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0%

    Zenith Vehicle Contracts Ltd

    Mean (average) gender pay gap Median gender pay gap Employee population receiving bonus (%) Mean (average) bonus pay gap Median bonus pay gap Gender distribution across quartiles
    LQ LMQ UMQ UQ
    M F M F M F M F M F
    3.57% 4.00% 64.39% 68.24% 2.48% 4.44% 50.00% 50.00% 47.42% 52.58% 55.67% 44.33% 53.61% 46.39%

    Careers

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