Yorkshire Water puts its toe in the water for transparency
4 Mar 2019
Utility company Yorkshire Water has released details of its ethnic pay gap and vowed to publish most of its operational data by next year.
The figures, which are included in the firm’s first workforce diversity report and not required under current statutory obligations, reveal a pay gap of 3%, compared to 17.9% for Yorkshire and Humberside overall.
Chief executive Richard Flint said the move would herald further changes and added he hoped the company’s competitors would follow suit.
“We made a commitment to take a leading position on openness and transparency and this report is an important part of that commitment,” he said.
“We intend to have an open dialogue with other large employers, such as local authorities, so that we can align our efforts to improve the diversity of our workforce with theirs and ensure we are working collaboratively.”
The company also plans to reveal its disability pay gap at a later date and to make use of its sophisticated data analytical tools to locate further ethnic profiling data.
Flint added: “Our priority is to substantially improve our data so that next year’s report shows an even more comprehensive picture. At the very least we would expect to show comprehensive disability data and also calculate our disability pay gap once the level of available data makes that a meaningful statistic.”
Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves, whose constituency is one of many served by Yorkshire Water, said she was encouraged by the company’s move: “This approach will lead to honest conversations and I am sure, positive changes. I am hoping other companies not just in Yorkshire but around the country follow suit,” she said.
