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Thomas Cook promises to tackle its 22% gender pay gap
Thomas Cook has promised ‘meaningful action’ to tackle its gender pay gap after revealing that on average its female staff earn 22% less than its male employees.
The biggest difference is within the company’s airline, where the average pay for women is 54% less than for men.
Almost three-quarters of Thomas Cook’s UK employees are female and in its stores 93% of its staff are women but its retail female staff are paid 14% less on average than its male staff, while men get 19% more in bonuses.
Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: "This report shows we have much to do in the area of gender pay, and I am determined that we take meaningful action now to give us better balance across the organisation."
The company said the gender pay gap was due to an ‘uneven distribution of men and women across the company’, and was not because of its pay policies and practices. The company said it had fewer women in higher-paid roles, such as pilots, engineers and senior management. Only 37% of Thomas Cook’s senior managers are female.
"Pilots are one of the highest-paid segments of our workforce. The fact that 95% of our pilots today are men has a big impact on our gender pay gap," it said in its report, published today, adding: "We are doing all we can to recruit more women into these roles and rise above the national average. The direction of travel is encouraging; since 2013 we have seen a 50% increase in the number of active female pilots working for Thomas Cook and we have various initiatives in place to achieve further growth.
"We see evidence of an increasingly strong female representation that can be seen in the mid-tier of our business. We have looked at the impact of various initiatives including apprenticeships, leadership training, mentoring and coaching on attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining the best people."
Fankhauser added: "As a customer-focused business, we know that a more balanced workforce at all levels brings wider perspectives and makes decisions which better reflect the customers that we serve, ultimately helping us to build a more successful business over the long term."
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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