Gender Pay Gap Report

Despite notable progress in raising awareness of gender pay gaps, it's disheartening to note the persistent systemic hurdles that contribute to gender pay disparities in 2024.

As a woman and as our new Group CEO, I acknowledge there are historic challenges inherent in both the financial services and technology sectors. I have experienced these challenges first-hand during my career. From this lived experience I am committed to dismantling barriers for women both at ManyPets and in the wider industry.

Through my role at ManyPets and my work as Co-Chair of Insurtech UK and as a visiting Professor at the ESCP Business School, I am aware that I have influence. This influence brings the opportunity to drive change, challenge the status quo, and act as a role model to women.

While this is something that I am grateful to champion, I am aware that no woman is an island. It’s crucial that we have allyship of our aims from all genders to make change happen and to make the change stick.

With a newly formed UK Senior Leadership team, I am confident we have the right blend of leaders and collective determination to make a difference. We are making steps to improve our gender pay gap however this will take time and the results are clear that we are not in the position I would like us to be.

In this report we’ll explore the specifics of our findings, our ongoing efforts to address any disparities, and our strategic initiatives that are aligned with the Financial Conduct Authority’s plans for 2025.

Together, let us forge a path towards a more equitable future for all.

A handwritten signature from ManyPets CEO, Luisa Barile

Luisa Barile

Group CEO and UK CEO

FAQ

Why is there a gender pay gap?

Gender equality within the workplace is significantly influenced by societal norms and expectations associated with gender. These ingrained stereotypes play a role in shaping the career paths pursued by individuals, impacting their earning potential along the way. Women frequently encounter added challenges related to caregiving responsibilities, often requiring breaks from work for family reasons and relying more on part-time employment to balance caregiving duties with their professional commitments.

Why are we taking part?

At the core of our culture is based on the principles of inclusion and equity. We believe that a diverse workforce not only enriches our workplace but also fosters a more fulfilling environment for all. Therefore, it's essential for us to continuously evaluate our progress and address any disparities we encounter along the way.

Why now?

We’re required to submit a report as we employ over 250 people in the UK. By law we need to submit our report to the UK government before 4th April 2024.

Who is captured in the report?

As part of our obligations, we're required to provide a snapshot of our employee pay data as of 5th April 2023. You’ll notice, is not our current year but a snapshot from a date 12 months in the past.

This report encompasses individuals who identify as either male or female; regrettably, it does not include those who identify outside the traditional binary genders, such as nonbinary or gender-fluid employees. We’ve chosen to remove people under this category in our report as we want to respect someone’s right to self-describe - and we think it’s the right thing to do. We have also omitted anyone who was on maternity leave, unpaid absence, or sick leave on 5th April 2023 as we are not required to report this data. Additionally, it's important to note that the gender pay gap report is focused solely on our employees and does not extend to contractors or off-payroll workers.

What data is shared?

We don’t share any personal information about our people, pay, or roles. We are required to share our pay gap percentages only with the government. Any data we have used to create this report has been managed by the People team in accordance with our data protection policies and procedures; and we have pseudonymised and anonymised any personal information required.

Explaining the terms we use

Employees are workers who are paid directly by ManyPets UK through our payroll.
The gender pay gap is the difference in pay between people who identify as men or women.
The mean pay gap is the difference in average hourly earnings between these two groups.
The median pay gap is calculated by ordering the salary of each person on the UK payroll from highest to lowest by their hourly pay. We then break the data into quartiles and calculate the percentage of people of each gender in each of the four quartiles.
Equal pay and the gender pay gap are related but distinct concepts. Equal pay focuses on ensuring parity for individuals performing the same work, the gender pay gap reflects broader systemic issues related to gender-based disparities in earnings.

Our results

Our data is taken from a single snapshot in time: 5th April 2023.
On this day ManyPets had 446 employees in the UK.
Women represented 63% of our UK workforce, which is an increase of 6% compared to our last report.
Of this number, 371 meet the requirements to be included in our latest pay gap report.
We have chosen to omit 20 people who have chosen not to identify as a man or a woman as it is important to acknowledge how someone identifies their gender.
We are not required to report data for employees who were on maternity leave, sick leave, or taking unpaid leave on 5th April 2023. We have omitted 12 people from this report maternity leave and 20 people for sick or unpaid absence.
We do not pay any bonuses; therefore, this data is not included in our report.

The mean gender pay gap in hourly pay as a percentage of men’s pay: 44%

The median pay gap in hourly pay as a percentage of men’s pay: 57%

A table displaying pay data at ManyPets

The context behind the results

Gender equality is intricately tied to societal norms and expectations that dictate traditional gender roles. These ingrained stereotypes often influence the career paths pursued by men and women, consequently affecting their earning potential. Additionally, women are disproportionately affected by factors such as taking time away from work to raise a family and the need for part-time hours to support long-term caregiving responsibilities.

In the past two years, we've made concerted efforts to expand our Claims and Engineering teams in the UK, with a particular emphasis on recruiting expertise in veterinary nursing and software engineering fields respectively. However, both communities and professions exhibit significant gender disparities, with women comprising a substantial majority. For example, nearly 60% of practicing veterinarians and 96% of registered vet nurses with the RCVS in the UK are women, a trend that has held steady over the past five years.

Regrettably, due to the specific needs and expertise required by our business, this imbalance has had a disproportionate impact on our results. While we acknowledge that this is far from an ideal situation, we hope that providing this context sheds light on the factors influencing our outcomes. We remain committed to addressing these disparities and fostering a more equitable environment within our organisation.

Our plans for the year ahead

We have identified four core areas of focus for ManyPets over the coming year to help us improve our results:

Reporting and measurement

We're taking a proactive approach to transparency by sharing revised and clearly defined metrics of our People data with both our Leadership team and Board. These insights will serve as invaluable tools for identifying themes and potential risks, allowing us to take appropriate actions and ensure that opportunities for development and progression remain inclusive.

While historically, we've stepped away from setting targets or quotas, in 2024 we're embracing a new approach aligned with proposed FCA guidelines. This shift involves setting measurable benchmarks to gauge our progress and success. Although we're not anticipating large-scale hiring this year, our focus will be on core metrics such as internal mobility, promotion rates, and attrition data. By prioritising these areas, we aim to drive meaningful improvements in our organisational dynamics and cultivate an environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Leadership accountability

With our new Senior Leadership Team (SLT) now in place, we've entrusted each member with a crucial mission: to champion and advance inclusion within their respective teams. This mandate includes ensuring that any business plans or changes they introduce do not adversely affect any protected characteristic.

Furthermore, this commitment to inclusion permeates every aspect of our operations, extending to our approach to promotion, salary reviews, performance evaluations, and capability frameworks. We've integrated these principles into our revised company values and behaviours, ensuring that they are not just stated ideals but integral components of how we operate on a day-to-day basis. By embedding inclusion at every level of our organisation, we're fostering an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best.

Inclusion initiatives

We remain steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive company culture and embracing inclusive ways of working. It's paramount to us that every individual within our organisation has access to opportunities for personal growth and development in understanding inclusion.

To uphold this commitment, we will continue to hold notable celebrations, such as International Women's Day, and recognise other significant dates. These events serve as important reminders of our dedication to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our company. Through ongoing education and celebration, we aim to empower our team members to champion inclusivity in all aspects of their work and interactions.

Building community

We're excited to announce our plans to establish a partnership with CodeBar, an initiative aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion within the tech industry. Through this collaboration, we envision our engineering community engaging with underrepresented students to share their expertise and experiences. Our goal is to provide valuable support, including coaching, career advice, pair programming opportunities, and access to learning events.

In addition to our partnership with CodeBar, we remain committed to supporting underrepresented groups in veterinary careers through our ongoing sponsorship of student scholarships. By combining these efforts, we aim to broaden educational opportunities and raise awareness of career paths among individuals who may not have considered them viable options before. We believe that this initiative will have a positive impact on empowering diverse talent and fostering inclusivity within our industries.

Our promise to you

In addition to our plans for this year, here’s what we promise both our people and prospective new joiners at ManyPets:

We will ensure that everyone’s salary and benefits are equitable for the job that they do, in the country where the role is based.
We will continue to implement strategies to attract and retain a diverse workforce, including targeted recruitment efforts, diverse interview panels, and inclusive job descriptions.
We will mitigate the risk of someone being financially disadvantaged by their ability to negotiate. The salary we offer will be based on a benchmarked salary range and aligned to a clearly defined job description.
We will openly share the salary details for all vacancies and we will not adjust salary ranges to align with what someone has been earning elsewhere.
We will not ask a candidates to disclose their current salary or package in the interview process. Instead, we explain how our reward process works and the package and benchmark we have agreed for the role.
We do not (and will not) ever pay someone differently based on their gender identity – or any other protected characteristic.
We will undertake annual pay audits which show us trends and patterns to identify roles that can be above or below market pay; ensuring again that we pay people fairly for the job that they do. To make sure we’re doing the right thing, we’ll adjust these regularly to ensure we’re closing any gaps where we can.
We will review our role levels regularly (we call this “STAGES”) and we will take active steps to revisit a role level if it’s changed, become more complex, or has greater levels of responsibility.
We will never discriminate against you and your suitability for a role or a promotion. Any decision we make will be based on your skills, experience, and how you demonstrate our company values.
We are committed to flexible working arrangements. (Provided that the needs and objectives of both the organisation and the employee can be met.) This will help prevent women from being penalised for taking time off for family reasons.
We will address occupational segregation by promoting gender diversity in male-dominated fields and encouraging women to pursue careers in traditionally male-dominated industries.
We will regularly monitor and evaluate pay and promotion practices to identify areas for improvement and ensure ongoing progress in reducing the gender pay gap.