PPD UK 2020 Gender Pay Gap Report
Who we are
PPD is a leading global contract research organisation providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services worldwide. Our purpose and mission are to improve health by helping our customers deliver life-changing therapies to patients. In pursuit of our purpose and mission, we are dedicated to fostering industry-leading talent and a culture by empowering all employees to maximise their achievements in an environment of mutual respect, free of discrimination. With this intention, we seek to attract, motivate retain and develop our talent at all levels regardless of gender, age, race, religion, disability, or any other potential form of discrimination, as set forth in PPD’s Equal Opportunities Policy Statement.
Our gender pay gap report
PPD is publicizing this report pursuant to the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. These regulations require all UK-based employers with 250 or more workers to publish annually specific metrics on their gender pay gap on their company website and the U.K. government website.
The report shows the difference in average pay between women and men, looking at all levels across the company in the U.K. It also examines the distribution of males and females throughout the organisation in terms of pay levels.
As with the 2018 and 2019 reports, it’s important to note that a gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay. Equal Pay is the concept of paying men and women equally for equivalent work. A gender pay gap report is not a pay audit and does not report on equal pay as it does not compare pay between men and women for specific roles.
This report will also indicate how PPD’s results have changed from the report published in 2019 and provide additional commentary to aid understanding
PPD metrics
Reporting period: 6 April 2018 – 5 April 201
Gender pay gap
Gender bonus gap
Key takeaways
PPD’s U.K. workforce remains majority female, and females continue to be distributed relatively evenly across the four pay quartiles.
- PPD’s mean and median hourly gender pay gap of 13.4% and 9.5% respectively continue to be lower than the national mean and median hourly gender pay gap of 16.2% and 17.3%, and substantially lower than the professional, scientific and technical sector (which includes PPD) at 22.8% and 24% (according to Office of National Statistics – 2019)
- Our gender pay gap is primarily attributable to the relatively disproportionate representation of males in roles with the highest hourly pay rates.
- The most notable change since last year’s report is a decrease in the mean gender bonus pay gap, from 66.2% to 47.9%.
- This is primarily due to:
- no special cash bonus payments in this reporting year for those eligible for the company’s equity incentive plan (i.e., stock options); and
- a higher percentage of females in management jobs (all levels) as compared to the previous reporting year.
- The median gender bonus pay gap improved, from 22.5% to 21.6%.
Our continued focus
PPD’s overarching aim is very clear, to address the gender pay gap by removing any barriers or biases that may contribute to it.
This connects with the company’s wider global strategy to remain competitive in attracting, motivating, retaining and developing industry-leading talent for all roles regardless of gender, age, race, religion, disability or any other potential form of discrimination.
Examples of our ongoing focus areas include:
- Recruitment:
- Enhancing processes to establish gender representation expectations for candidate slates for leadership positions
- Talent management:
- Proactive identification of high-potential females in our global organisation
- Assessing the viability of female-specific mentoring programmes
- Female representation to our global executive promotion panel
- Continuing the support and activities of Employee Resource Groups, including the Women’s Empowerment Network (WEN)
- Unconscious bias manager training
- Analysis:
- Facilitating focus groups to understand employee perceptions of culture and career opportunities, and to assist in identifying other opportunities to address the gender pay gap
- Total rewards:
- Continuous review of U.K. benefits provisions with the aim of enhancing policies to support women and eliminate barriers to internal mobility
PPD is committed to recruiting and retaining the best talent for all roles to drive our performance, deliver for our clients and achieve our purpose and mission.
We confirm that our data has been calculated according to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017
Julia James
Deputy General Counsel
Director, PPD Global Ltd.