At Arcadis, we fully support the drive for consistency and transparency around gender and ethnicity pay. We firmly believe that the requirement for all businesses to publish their Gender and Ethnicity Pay information will help industries of all shapes and sizes both identify and address the critical issue of gender and ethnicity balance.
The Gender Pay Gap is the difference in the average hourly pay between all women and all men in a workforce. This is different to ‘equal pay’, which is the difference in pay between women and men carrying out similar jobs or work of equal value. We proactively monitor equal pay as part of our annual pay and bonus process.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion are cornerstones of our business in the UK. We know that diversity of people - and of thought - delivers benefits to our people, our culture, our clients and our projects. As with many organisations and like many other peers in the construction industry, we are grappling with a historic gender imbalance, and Arcadis’ Gender Pay and bonus gaps come about due to a higher proportion of men occupying senior positions in the business.
In 2022, the mean average hourly pay difference between men and women at Arcadis was 19.2%, while the median was 25.3%. Whilst we have made progress, this year’s figures demonstrate that this cannot be changed overnight. It will be iterative, and we need to ensure we not only take the right action but that we do it well.
As a business, we are fully committed to tackling the gender imbalance across our workforce and to create a great workplace for women to excel.
How we are addressing the Gender Pay Gap
We want more females to join Arcadis. We want more females to remain in Arcadis. We want more females to progress in Arcadis.
- Join Arcadis. We want to attract the retain the best talent possible. We are already seeing progress in this area, and in 2021 were ranked among the top three Best Big Companies to work for in the UK. Arcadis also made it into nine regional shortlists, achieving #1 place in London, #3 place in Wales and #3 place in Yorkshire & The Humber. The company came #2 place in Construction and Engineering’s Best Companies to work for. Our men and women leaders are also proactive in promoting Arcadis as an employer of choice, championing STEM subjects through widening participation in schools and universities and promoting careers in Arcadis with graduates.
- Choose to stay in Arcadis. We know circumstances and priorities can change, independent of gender. Whilst we won’t claim the ‘first’ or the ‘only’, we have embedded policies and procedures that support those returning to work. These include actively promoting a flexible approach to the way our people want and choose to work and creating a Male Allies Group to build a network of influence that supports gender balance.
- Progress in Arcadis. Within Arcadis, we are proud of our talent and succession planning, which sees us proactively nurturing and empowering everyone with a personal drive and ambition to accelerate their careers. We also continue to invest in programmes that develop our talent including the successful Women in Engineering Programme.
Martin Eves, People Services Director for UK and Ireland at Arcadis:
“Diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging are thefoundations of our business in the UK&I. We know that diversity of people, and of thought, delivers benefits to our people and makes us who we are.”
Unlike gender pay reporting, ethnicity pay gap reporting is not currently compulsory, but at Arcadis we are committed to providing transparency and have therefore published our ethnicity pay reporting for the second year in a row.
The ethnicity pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between employees from minority ethnic background in the workforce, compared to white employees.
We are pleased that the proportion of Arcadians from minority ethnic communities compares closely with the average working age population in England and Wales at circa 17%.
In 2022, the mean average hourly ethnicity pay difference at Arcadis was 15.5%, while the median was 15.3%. Our continued commitment is to ensure that diversity is reflected across all levels and job families in our business.