Gender Pay Gap Report 2023

Here at Hobbycraft we are the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer, and we are dedicated to getting Britain making. 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 diversity, equality and inclusivity and a fair working environment for all to belong and thrive in.

We have recently been voted and placed by our colleagues as the #1 Best Big Company to work for in the UK (for Q2) and Best Big Retail Company to work for in the UK overall in the 2023 Best Companies Survey. We were also recognised for our levels of engagement being ‘world class’.

As of the 5th April 2023, Hobbycraft had 2374 colleagues, 20% were male and 80% were female (equivalent to last year). 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 full pay 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. The gender pay gap is not the same as unequal pay. Unequal pay is giving women less than men for the same work, which has been against the law since the Equal Pay Act was introduced in 1970. A Company's gender pay gap can be caused, for example, by having more women in less senior positions, as well as occupying more part-time roles.

At the time of reporting for 2023, 80% of Hobbycraft’s total Colleagues (relevant and full pay relevant) were female. In our stores, 87% of our Colleagues were female and 13% male. In our support functions 55% of Colleagues were female and 45% were male.

Our Gender Pay Gap

Our pay for male colleagues was

29.09% Lower (Mean)

7.9% 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 (62.48% 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.

We have seen an improvement on last year’s figures, especially in our median figure. On the snapshot date of 5th April 2022 (for last year’s report) a one-off payment made to some of our Warehouse colleagues in our Distribution Centre was included in their average pay calculations and given the gender demographic of the Warehouse Team in the Distribution Centre being 58.57% Male at the time, this would have impacted the figures.

Gender Bonus Gap

The vast majority of our colleagues did not receive a bonus last year.

0% of men received a bonus payment and 0.16% of women.

Bonus pay for female colleagues was 0% lower when measured as a mean average (mean).

And 0% lower when measured as a median average (median)

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.

The Upper Quartile has seen an increase in female by 6%

The Upper Middle Quartile has seen an increase in females by 4%

The Lower Middle Quartile has seen an increase in males by 7%

The Lower Quartile has seen an increase in females by 2%

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It is really pleasing to see that our upper and middle quartile have seen a percentage increase in the number of females. 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. In the past year we have seen differences in the percentages of men and women throughout the quartiles as listed above. We have seen increases of males employed in our lower middle quartile and increases females in our lower quartile which will impact the reporting. All colleagues are paid based upon the role within which they work, regardless of their gender. We have female representation throughout our 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.

We are committed to creating more focus on diversity, inclusion and belonging, as well as equal representation throughout Hobbycraft. 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 drives and champions our commitments throughout all parts of our business.

This year we are beginning the roll out of Unconscious Bais Training to all colleagues which is another small step towards a higher level of inclusivity and awareness.

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.