Some business values remain of utmost importance even during these times of uncertainty. For Gousto, this is equality and diversity in the workplace.

As we grow, staying laser focused on such values is essential. Having just published this year’s gender pay gap report we know there are improvements to be made, but we’re also confident that we can and will make these necessary changes.

What is the gender pay gap?

This is the average difference between pay for men and women, regardless of their roles and seniority. It is different to equal pay which ensures men and women employed in the same roles receive equal pay.

Our 2019 median gender pay gap was 23.2%.

What does this mean?

This year’s median pay gap is better than last years, which stood at 33%, so we’re making progress. Our ultimate goal is to have no gap, but faced with wider tech industry issues, there is still progress to be made.

As of 2019 we:

• were delivering over three million recipe boxes to UK homes each month
• grew year-on-year revenue by 70%
• grew our workforce by 46% year-on-year (from April 2018 – April 2019)
• launched a recruitment drive to hire another 700 people by the end of 2022

All amazing signs that we’re achieving our mission to become the UK’s most-loved way to eat dinner!

There are privileges that business growth allows us, such as better rewarding employees for their service & contribution to the business, and bringing in amazing new talent to the team such as our first ever Chief People Officer.

However, there are also challenges that come with being one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech businesses.

• More men than women studying technology subjects at higher education – which naturally flows through to recruitment and these positions attract higher salaries
• Higher business demand requires a bigger factory workforce and more women than men were hired into the factory, into the lower quartile positions
• Whilst we increased the number of women in management roles in this period by 21%, there tends to be more men than women in these roles in the tech industry

How are we improving this?

• Recruitment training upskilling to ensure a fair selection and screening process with no bias
• Bias training for managers to ensure that every individual has the same opportunities
• Insight gathering from women at Gousto, potential candidates, rejected offers and new starters to help inform future processes
• Reviews of our reward structures for bias

We’ve already expanded our team of women in management positions – earlier this year, we hired Lisa Hillier as our first Chief People Officer who brings with a wealth of experience of implementing diversity and inclusion strategies. Lisa’s joining follows a year of investment into our People/HR team. Now with such a strong team, I’m confident that we are in a position to make vast improvements to our hiring and other related processes that make a real difference.

We’ve also welcomed Misty Reich to join the Gousto board. Having held senior leadership roles at the likes of Yum! Brands and KFC, as well as being a leading voice for women in business, Misty will be advising us on how to scale our unique culture, keeping gender equality front of mind as we do.

This remains a top priority of ours and whilst we call on the tech industry to take stronger action to reduce these inequalities, we make it our mission at Gousto to make real progress on this each year.

Gender pay gap

Gender bonus gap

Proportion of employees receiving 2019 bonus

Pay quartiles (proportion of males and females in each pay quartile)