Gender Pay Gap Report 2021

Here at Hobbycraft we are the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer are dedicated to getting Britain Crafting. There are proven benefits associated with crafting on an individual’s health and wellbeing and we see our role not only as a retailer, sourcing and selecting products for our customer’s, but also as a provider of inspiration and help and advice; delivered through our comprehensive online and in-store workshop programme. We are committed to becoming more sustainable, all the while focusing on colleague wellbeing, our store communities, and doing what is right with integrity and transparency. We pride ourselves on our people being at the heart of everything we do, be it customers or colleagues. We are committed and passionate about team equality and diversity and a fair working environment for all to thrive in. We have recently been voted and placed by our colleagues as the 4th Best Big Company to work for in the UK and have received a 3* accreditation demonstrating that our levels of engagement are truly world class.

As of the 5th April 2021, Hobbycraft had 2247 colleagues, 23% were male and 77% were female. As a Company we recognise that not all colleagues identify with male and female genders, however, as stated in the legislation we have listed them as such for the purposes of the reporting.

Background

This data has been produced using the calculations detailed in the Gender Pay Gap Reporting legislation. The Gender Pay Gap shows the average pay of all the males in a defined group (in this case all our Colleagues) against the average pay of all the females in the same group. The statutory calculations also do not allow for full time equivalent normalisation.

It is worth noting on the snapshot date of 5th April 2020 for our precious years report, some of our employees were furloughed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which meant some colleagues were receiving reduced pay and had to be excluded from our mandatory reporting figures for last year. Different departments and levels of the business were Furloughed, and some pay was reduced to reflect the Government Furlough Scheme in line with these areas. Colleagues who were placed on Furlough were selected due to their role being impacted from The Coronavirus Pandemic and has no relation to gender.

At the time of reporting for 2021, 77% of Hobbycraft’s total Colleagues were female. In our stores, 85.1% of our Colleagues were female and 14.9% male. In our support functions 39.5% of Colleagues were female and 60.5% were male.

Our Gender Pay Gap

Our pay for male colleagues was

29% Lower (Mean)

6.5% Lower (Median)

Why the Gap?

We are passionate about equal pay for all. Our colleagues continue to be paid based on their role not their gender, our gender pay gap is predominately driven by the dynamics of our in-store teams. Most of our store-based roles are part times Sales Advisor positions (68% of total store Colleagues), these roles are paid on set hourly rates that apply to all Colleagues regardless of gender, and this has a significant outcome on our gender pay gap results. As detailed above we have a larger number of female Colleagues in our stores, we are confident that all positions are paid fairly to all Colleagues.

Gender Bonus Gap

Bonus pay for male colleagues was 79.8% higher when measured as a mean average (mean).

And 52% higher when measured as a median average (median).

72% of men received a bonus payment and 80% of women.

Pay Quartiles

In line with the regulations, we have also set out the gender distribution across four equally sized quartiles based on pay range. These charts show the proportion of men and women in each pay quartile at Hobbycraft.

Within the Upper Quartile, the male percentage has increased by 7%.

The Upper Middle Quartile has seen an increase in females by 7%.

The Lower Middle Quartile has seen an increase of males by 14%

The Lower Quartile has seen an increase in females by 5%

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As a retailer we have a diverse colleague base from a broad range of communities and backgrounds. Our colleagues are recruited for their skill, passion, love of craft and customer service, which is also reflected in our customer base. It is this skill and love of crafting which defines them, but we recognise there are always opportunities for growth. We have female representation throughout or store management, senior leadership teams and Directors, which we believe demonstrates our commitment to both equal pay but also female careers at all levels of the business. Flexible and hybrid working arrangements continue to be in place to support our colleagues, and we have been adapting these working practices throughout our journey away from the pandemic.

We are committed to creating more focus on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, as well as equal representation throughout Hobbycraft. Last year saw us launch our Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging training for all colleagues in our business. This year we plan to look at unconscious bias training for all colleagues including hiring managers, and we will continue to scrutinise our talent attraction and retention initiatives both internally and externally. All colleagues are encouraged to fulfil their potential and take advantage of training, development, and progression opportunities within Hobbycraft. Selection for training, and promotion, will be on the basis of attitude and ability and has no relation to gender.

Hobbycraft have an Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging committee that reviews and initiates our commitments throughout all parts of our business. However, we recognise the business is on a journey to become as equal, diverse, and inclusive as possible, and awareness, understanding, and true change take time.

Hobbycraft are pleased to see increases across the quartiles for both males and female as it demonstrates a continued dedication to gender diversity. We understand the nature of our business correlates to an increased female workforce and is representative of the retail environment. We are committed to focusing on reducing the gender pay gap and bonus pay gap throughout the business.

While we continue to focus on reducing our Gender Pay Gap, we recognise that the data generated is only one measure of building an equal and inclusive culture. Our colleagues are at the heart of all that we do at Hobbycraft, and we are proud that this is part of our continued commitment to our colleagues having safe and nurturing working environments to thrive in.