A report has revealed that a shocking gender pay gap still exists, with men being paid an average of 26 percent more than women. Contributor Jonathan Hall, Founder & CEO – cranberry panda.
When analysing this further, it’s clear the ecommerce industry is still male dominated. Men who are Manager level and above earn 11.2 percent more than their female counterparts, with board level positions seeing the biggest gap in pay at £30,000 on average.
Although the survey reveals that men earn significantly more than women, in higher tiered jobs women have seen a 2 percent salary increase at Senior Manager level, when compared to last year. The findings also revealed that 1 percent of women in ecommerce are now earning £201,000 and over.
There has also been a 5 percent increase in women earning between £55,000 – £70,000, yet only 5 percent were earning between £70,000 and £90,000 compared to 13 percent of men. Whilst women are earning increasingly more within the higher pay brackets than 12 months ago, nearly two thirds (65 percent) of women under 35 are earning under £35,000 per year, compared to only 35 percent of men.
Key findings from the survey also include:
- Men are being paid £14,000 more than women across the ecommerce board
- 60 percent of men earn between £45,000 – £150,000 at Management level
- 68 percent of respondents received a pay rise in the last 12 months; 48 percent of women earn between £45,000 – £150,000 at Management level
- The average salary for professionals aged between 46-65 decreased by 18 percent
- Men at Owner/Partner level are earning £20,000 more than women
- Only 21 percent of respondents want to offer more team training opportunities to staff
- 62 percent of respondents work in the hotspot for ecommerce jobs; London
- 78 percent of respondents at Junior Exec Level are happy with their work-life balance
The report is particularly timely, with the ecommerce landscape continuing to prosper despite the amount of uncertainty surrounding the UK market, the world’s third biggest ecommerce market.
Jonathan Hall, Founder & CEO of cranberry panda commented on the survey findings: “We knew that a gender pay gap still existed within the ecommerce industry, but what we didn’t expect was the sheer size of the gap. Whilst it appears that women are starting to break into the top tier salary brackets, there is still a long way to go before we see equality within ecommerce.”
For the first time in the survey’s history, ecommerce employees were asked to choose what they saw as a challenge and a goal for the next 12 months. Almost half of respondents said that staff retention (48 percent) and recruiting the right people (42 percent) were the biggest challenges they faced, but only a third (31 percent) saw growing their ecommerce team as a goal over the next year. This shows that whilst hiring the right talent is essential, ecommerce businesses would rather focus on keeping their current team and offer more training opportunities.
The biggest goal for respondents was increasing online revenue (68 percent), followed by improving customer acquisition & retention (57 percent), demonstrating the main strategic objectives for UK ecommerce businesses.
“With 89 percent of respondents believing that company benefits improve culture and working life, it is clear that the industry isn’t doing enough to retain its staff and offer an appealing work-life balance. With the gender pay gap still being significant, businesses within the ecommerce industry should look to find other ways of appealing to both existing and new employees,” continued Jonathan.
This survey was conducted by cranberry panda, with 640 UK adults between the ages of 25 – 65, between January 8th and February 20th 2018.
