Jacobs’ Gender Pay Gap Report 2018 for England, Wales and Scotland

As the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2018 emphasizes, gender parity is essential to whether and how economies and societies develop and thrive. Developing and employing half of the world’s total talent pool has an immense influence on the growth and future-readiness of economies and businesses globally. The WEF report benchmarks 149 countries on their progress towards gender parity across economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, and analysis behind the rankings is intended to provide a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

WEF’s Report finds that, globally, many countries have achieved important milestones towards gender parity across education, health, economic and political systems, yet others are regressing. Western Europe is, on average, the region with the highest level of gender parity (75.8%). Followed by North America (72.5%) and Latin America (70.8%). It also warns about the possible emergence of new gender gaps in advanced technologies, for example with artificial intelligence-related skills.

The European Union publishes regularly updated information on the gender pay gap situation and influencing factors, like different working patterns of women. In England, Wales and Scotland, companies with more than 250 employees are required to annually disclose their gender pay gap. The regulations aim to help companies understand if and why they have a pay gap and motivate them to drive real change and accelerate the timeline for progress.

Jacobs’ Gender Pay Gap Report 2018 (for England, Wales and Scotland) incorporates all our qualifying U.K. operating employing entities as of April 5, 2018. The report recognizes some of the key challenges in the industry and outlines Jacobs’ actions and commitments to continue to improve the gender balance of our U.K. workforce.

Our overall gender pay gap in England, Wales and Scotland has shown little change for 2018, but actions have and are being taken to address the pay gap, such as conscious inclusion training and the introduction of our Returners Program to better support employees back into the workplace who have taken a period of family leave. Investing in future talent saw Jacobs attract and hire more female graduates, interns and apprentices in 2018 than in 2017. Also, the STEM Ambassadors Network continued to grow and inspire the next generation to positively influence the number of females following a STEM career. We are also advertising roles to accommodate flexible working options and actively seek diverse candidate pools from diverse media.

“Since our last U.K. gender pay gap report, we accelerated our commitment to attract, develop and retain a globally diverse talent base in Jacobs,” said Jacobs Chief Human Resources Officer Shelie Gustafson. “We saw the introduction and significant investment in a Global Inclusion and Diversity Strategy to ensure that we continue to understand issues like the gender pay gap and take positive action to address issues which are systemically prevalent across our industry.”

Our global accomplishments during 2018 include:

• Strengthening the diversity of our Executive Leadership Team, including the appointment of our first female executive vice president and first female chief strategy & communications officer in the company history. Overall, our executive leadership team is now represented by 56% women and 22% reflect ethnic diversity.
• Holding senior leadership accountable for inclusion and diversity. In fiscal 2019, the company instituted culture-based leadership metrics into annual executive compensation, which include inclusion and diversity goals for each senior Jacobs leader.
• Establishing a Global Inclusion & Diversity Council at executive level and a European Inclusion & Diversity Council to develop proposals to close the gender pay gap.
• Hosting our first annual Inclusion Week around the world to increase employee awareness about the business value of having an inclusive and diverse workforce.
• Empowering employees to share feedback with our leaders when they see opportunities for improvement.
• Introducing mandatory conscious inclusion training to all employees over the next year.
• Improving our talent management and development processes to ensure opportunities for training, development and career advancement are distributed fairly across the company.
• Undertaking an evaluation of policies to ensure they support our inclusion and diversity goals.
• Joining Catalyst CEO Champions for Change companies in demonstrating an active commitment to achieving gender equality in the workplace.
• Relaunching eight Jacobs Employee Network Groups globally, including a very active Women’s Network. The networks are open to all employees and help them grow their personal networks, offer development opportunities and advance career opportunities.

“We are proud to be ranked in the top quartile in 2018 of Forbes’ Best Employers for Diversity, while recognizing we still have opportunities to improve further on our inclusion journey,” noted Shelie. “We are investing to attract, inspire, retain and develop diverse talent toward the ultimate aim of closing the gender pay gap to create a working environment where all employees feel welcome and will thrive.”