HELP REQUESTED TO FIX PAY GAP

The U.K. government has been called upon to help the music industry fix its gender pay gap, which averages 27.6% across the three major labels, as of 2020 figures.

Revealed last week, the numbers, which are legally required to be published by companies with more than 250 employees, show little progress. In 2019, the last time all three companies published their figures (they were let off the hook due to COVID-19 last year), the average pay gap stood at 29.6%.

As of April 2020, at Universal U.K., the mean average hourly rate of pay was 29.2% lower for women than for men. Sony U.K.’s gender pay gap was 25.4%, while Warner U.K.’s stood at 30%.

Bonus payments paint a particularly dire picture: At Universal, female employees who earn a bonus were paid 49.6% less on average than men. Sony’s bonus gap was 50.4% and Warner’s 56.9%.

The disparities are partly due to the relative imbalance of women in senior positions. At Universal, 26% of employees in the top-earning quartile were women. At Sony, 39% of those positions were filled by women. And women take 39% of Warner’s highest-earning positions.

Trade body UK Music pointed to “structural barriers” that hinder the progress of women in the workplace. As such, Chief Exec Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has called for the government to address “the need for more equitable parental-leave schemes that work for all families, well-funded and accessible childcare and access to justice for victims of workplace discrimination. He continued, "Employers should fully support employees when they have children, embrace flexible working whenever possible and review structures that lead to pay gaps.”