Hachette UK publishes its latest Gender Pay Gap Report

Hachette UK has launched its latest Gender Pay Gap Report, which reveals that the median gender pay gap* has decreased by 7.1 percentage points over the last four years, from 24.7% in 2017 to 17.6% in 2020.

The findings reveal that Hachette UK has continued to increase the percentage of women in the upper pay quartile**. In 2017, Hachette UK pledged that the 66% of the company comprised of women at the time would be reflected in the top pay quartile by 2020. In 2020, Hachette UK was very close to reaching this target, achieving a 65% representation of women in the upper quartile, which is an increase of 6 percentage points from its first Gender Pay Gap Report. This change is also reflected in Hachette UK’s board structure, with women representing 56% of the board in 2021, compared to a third in 2017.

The report also shows that the percentage of men in the business has decreased, meaning that the increase in higher paid women is not closing the gender pay gap as much as expected.

Melanie Tansey, Group HR Director, commented: “We’re pleased to see that our median gender pay gap has reduced by 7.1% since our first report and we remain committed to driving positive cultural change. Introducing shared parental leave, flexible working and, most recently, a raft of new measures to bring more transparency to how pay is calculated, awarded and communicated, are just some of the ways we’re aiming to become the publisher and employer of choice for everyone. While we have a long way to go, it’s encouraging to see from the latest figures that we’re continuing to move in the right direction on our gender pay gap.”

The actions Hachette UK has taken since its first Gender Pay Gap Report are part of ‘Changing the Story’, a programme of policies and initiatives designed to attract and retain diverse talent.

In 2020, Hachette UK was included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women, the longest-running and most widely respected award for employers committed to achieving gender equality. Hachette UK’s Gender Balance Network was also awarded with prestigious Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei) Award 2020 for Employee Network Group of the Year (Private Sector).

Notes to Editors:

* The Gender Pay Gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings. This excludes any employees on reduced pay (e.g. statutory parental pay, statutory sick pay or unpaid leave).

** This is the percentage of women and men employees in four quartiles, calculated by ranking employees from the highest paid to the lowest paid and dividing out workforce into four equal parts.

About Hachette UK:

Our mission at Hachette UK is to make it easy for everyone, everywhere to unlock new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We are one of the UK’s largest publishing groups, with 10 autonomous publishing divisions and over 50 imprints with a rich and diverse history. We are also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

We publish thousands of new books across the group every year and our authors include Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling and Malala Yousafzai.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Little, Brown, Orion, John Murray Press, Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Quercus, Bookouture and Octopus. Hachette Children’s Group publishes a diverse range of books for children of all ages and Hodder Education is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

We have offices around the UK, including our headquarters in London and the Hely Hutchinson Centre (HHC) for distribution in Didcot. We have subsidiaries in several other regions, including Australia, India, Ireland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jamaica and New Zealand.