At Arcadis, we fully support the drive for consistency and transparency around gender pay. We firmly believe that the requirement for all businesses to publish their Gender Pay information will help industries of all shapes and sizes both identify and address the critical issue of gender 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.
Last year we shared details of our gender pay gap and it showed that like many other peers in the construction industry we are grappling with a historic gender imbalance. As with many organisations, Arcadis’ Gender Pay and bonus gaps come about due to a higher proportion of men occupying senior positions in the business.
In 2018, the mean average hourly pay difference between men and women at Arcadis was 21.2%, while the median was 24.8%. Whilst we have made some 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. With this in mind, we have defined a shared goal of 30% representation of women at senior job levels by the end of 2021. This is something we can aim for as a collective and a marker by which we can review our progress.
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 2018 secured places in the prestigious Glassdoor and Sunday Times Top 25 best businesses to work for rankings. 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.
Lucy England, UK HR Director at Arcadis:
“Arcadis is a truly ‘people first’ business recognised by both Glassdoor and the Sunday Times in 2018 as one of the best places to work in the UK. Our culture is built with, and for, the collective – by our people, for our people.”
