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Women employed by the Alternative Parcels Company (APC) are earning 3p more per pound sterling than male colleagues.

According to the company’s latest Gender Pay Gap Report, women at the company earn more on average than men based on the mean gender pay gap (-3.2%).

In real terms, this means women earn £1.03 for every £1 a man earns at the business. The median gender pay gap is also favourable to women (-2.4%), equating to women earning £1.02 for every £1 a male employee earns.

The APC said this week that the differential reflects the parcel delivery network’s investment in the learning and development of women throughout the business and a subsequent increase in female participation in leadership and managerial roles.

Women hold 40% of roles within the company’s senior leadership team, holding roles from head of department upwards and 50% of the executive roles at director level.

Jonathan Smith, chief executive at The APC, said: “Women are a critical part of our business and I’m so pleased that the Gender Pay Gap data is reflective of the value we place on fair equity and inclusion for our employees.

“As a business we’ve worked hard to facilitate learning and development opportunities and create a work environment that removes barriers, and allows women to achieve their full potential within our business - unhindered by factors outside of their role.

“It’s encouraging that this continued investment and a subsequent increase in female participation in leadership and managerial roles is now shown through the data.”

Analysis of gender pay by The APC highlights that 28% of its ‘upper quartile’ are women - a decrease of 5% when compared to 2021. However 38% of its ‘upper middle quartile’ are women - an increase of 12% compared to 2021 - highlighting the progression of female colleagues moving into the top 50% of earners within the business.

Partly as a result of this progression within the company, the data also shows that there has been a decrease in females in the ‘lower middle quartile’ (-3%) and ‘lower quartile’ (-5%), which are roles that are held by the majority of The APC’s workforce, for example, drivers or employees in the warehouses.

Corina Forman, HR director at APC said: “Despite the fantastic progress we have made, we are not complacent, as there continues to be certain job roles where women are underrepresented, which remains an industry-wide issue.

“We are continuing to review our recruitment methodologies and people policies and practices to ensure that we attract, retain and develop the best talent.

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“We’ve been inspired by the sheer determination and talent that so many of our female colleagues have shown and are eager to play our part in supporting them to achieve their potential in our business - 50% of colleagues working on an apprenticeship qualification are female, and 12 female colleagues have, or are completing, a professional qualification, supported by the APC.

“The results of this are clearly evidenced in the increasing participation of female colleagues across many of our more niche, technical and highly-skilled roles, such as revenue protection, which require lots of training, development and support from the business.

However, we understand that there is more we need to do to make our delivery and warehouse roles into viable, aspirational roles for women.

“Over the past year we have updated our internal and external recruitment advertising materials so that it better reflects the diversity of colleagues employed at the APC and showcases the opportunity of progression for female employees.”

The contrast between women in head office and managerial roles compared to warehouse roles is also depicted in the Bonus Pay Gap, which is 17.9%, a 13.2% year-on-year increase from 4.7% in 2021.

Yet, the company’s median bonus gender pay gap is -180.6% favourable to female colleagues, which reflects the ongoing participation of women in bonus qualifying roles.

Overall, 23.4% of female employees and 14.9% of male employees received a bonus payment in 2022.

Smith, added: “As a business we will continue to invest in our employees, our most important asset.

“We are focussed on providing long-term career prospects, training and upskilling opportunities at The APC to ensure all employees continue to feel recognised for all their efforts and help grow the next generation of leaders.

“We have a strong retention rate for our female managers and are looking to keep it this way; of our female managers, 70% have +5 years’ service and 22% have +10 years’ service.

“We continue to monitor and review bonus payments to maintain gender parity, offer training opportunities for women to join in our delivery and warehouse roles, and develop women to rise up the ranks and become leaders in our business - I hope that one day my role will be taken by one of our talented female colleagues.”

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