Epicor Gender Pay Gap Report 2020

Epicor Software

Epicor’s purpose is to be the essential partner to the World’s essential businesses. Our customers are the hardworking businesses who make, move, and sell the things everyone needs. Our carefully curated industry productivity solutions enable businesses to keep the world turning, even during the most challenging times.

Epicor Software operates in the Software market providing industry-specific solutions for customers across manufacturing, distribution, retail, and services organizations. We are a Global organisation operating across 150 countries with over 3,900 employees. In 2020 we operated from 3 sites in the UK and at the snapshot date employed circa 216 employees and workers. Our UK Headquarters are in Bracknell, in proximity to a number of SME and large IT and service organisations.

Our goal is to attract, select, develop, and retain employees on the basis of skills, knowledge, ability, performance, and interest; and to foster an environment of diversity and inclusion in which all employees are valued.

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 organisations are required to report on the gender pay gaps to help understand the size and causes of their pay gaps and identify any issues that need to be addressed. Gender Gap Reporting highlights gender pay gaps as opposed to equal pay which is governed by separate legislation. Organisations are required to report on data calculated using the mechanisms set out in the gender pay gap reporting legislation and as specified by the Government Equalities Office. The data relates to the six-metric required by the legislation:

• The difference in the mean pay of full-pay men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The difference in the median pay of full-pay men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The difference in mean bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The difference in median bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The proportion of men and women who received bonus pay and
• The proportion of full-pay men and women in each of four quartile pay bands.

as at a prescribed snapshot date and shows the difference in the average hourly rate of pay and bonus payments between women and men in an organisation, expressed as a percentage of the average male earnings. The following provides a guide to the figures: 

Mean

The average of a set of numbers. All numbers are added together and divided by the number of numbers put into the calculation.
The regulations require us to report the difference between the mean hourly rate of men compared to the mean hourly rate of women, expressed as a percentage of the men’s figure.

Median

The middle value of a list of numbers. If the list has an odd number of entries, the median is middle entry after sorting the list into increasing order. If the list has an even number of entries, the median is halfway between the two middle numbers after sorting. A median calculation is often thought to be more accurate than a mean calculation on the basis that it is less likely to be distorted by outlying figures. The regulations require us to report the difference between the median hourly rate for men compared to the median hourly rate for women, expressed as a percentage of the men’s figure.

Pay Quartiles

Rates of pay are placed into a list in order of value and the list is divided into four equal sections (quartiles). Each quartile will contain the same number of incumbents.

The regulations require us to report how many men and how many women are in each pay quartile, expressed as a percentage within each quartile.

By reporting on gender pay gaps ensures that these are visible and, in line with the Government Equalities Office agenda, highlighted for remedial action to close such gaps.

Headline data at a glance

The Proportion of Females and Males in each Quartile Band

Comparable Gender Pay Gap figures 2018 – 2020

The 2020 figures show a 3.12% increase in the Median hourly rate for males compared to the Median hourly rate for females. Whereas, we have seen a -3.60% change in the same period, in the Mean hourly rate for males compared to the Mean hourly rate for females. 

The Gender Bonus Gap saw an over 10% increase in the Median and Mean bonus pay gap, expressed as a percentage, compared to the same metrics for the previous reporting year. 

Underlying causes of the gap

Research confirms the Technology and Software industry has a disparity in the proportion of males to female employees, particularly at a senior level, with approximately just between 17 and 25% of UK employees in the industry being female. Hence diversity and inclusion continue to be a challenge across a traditionally male-dominated industry. The male/female make-up of the four quartile pay bands illustrates this. The gender split of Epicor Software (UK) Ltd employee base was marginally higher than industry trends, with 29% of the employee base being female; this is a slight uplift from the previously reported 27% in 2019. Epicor acknowledges increased focus in headhunting and recruiting from a more diverse workforce, attracting, and developing female talent, particularly in senior roles, is critical to contributing to closing the Gender Pay Gap and Gender Bonus Gaps. The company also recognises that retaining female talent, providing growth opportunities and access to these will be key in closing the gap. 

Makeup of employee base

Research shows that females are often more likely to work part time, and that many of the jobs that are available across the UK on a part-time basis are relatively low paid.

Epicor employed 216 employees at the snapshot date, 29% females and 71% male, of which part-time workers made up just 5.5% of the workforce. There were 12.9% females and 2.6% males working part-time.

There is no underlying evidence to suggest that part-time working to look after children may have affected female career progression within the organisation.

Seniority Levels

Of the 62 Females employed in the UK organisation, 7 (11.2%) Female employees were in senior roles, 2 (3.22%) of the 7 Female employees at Director-level posts.

Male employees in senior-level roles differed significantly, with 47 Males (30.5%) out of the 154 employed in senior-level jobs. At the Director/Senior Director level 12, (7.79%) of these roles were held by Male employees and 5 (3.24%) at the VP level.

Conversely, there were no Female VPs, in the business. These data sets support the research findings of a disparity in the proportion of Females to Males in senior-level roles in the traditionally male-dominated industry.

Closing the Gender Pay Gap at Epicor Software (UK)

What else does Epicor plan on doing to close the Gender Pay Gap? 

We have addressed and closed some pay gaps through our ‘Out of Cycle’ pay reviews process. From our data, it is evident that we need to continue focusing on attracting and recruiting a more diverse workforce, particularly females and especially at senior levels. Gender-neutral advertising, anonymised CV’s, promotion of flexible working opportunities at the recruitment stage, and the development of Female talent sit at the top of our action list. 

Promoting professional training and development and the creation of Personal Development Plans are additional actions for focus. All UK employees would be encouraged to focus on their career progression and potentially increase their earnings as they progress.

The organisation already shares Internal Mobility Success Stories on its Global Career Journey portal. Establishing a Women's Network and sharing Female and Male employee career development journeys and stories will further highlight having a diverse and innovative organisation contributes to business success. The recommendation from Milkround and Universum, a global employer branding Company, is that by 'highlighting stories about how employees have succeeded, developed and taken on more responsibility in their roles and therefore have high earning potential', organisations can attract a more diverse workforce.

This continued focus will contribute to Epicor's commitment to closing the Gender Pay Gap and improving gender diversity.

The data in this report is accurate at the snapshot date of 5 April 2020 and is reported in line with UK government reporting regulations.

Signed

On behalf of Epicor Software UK Ltd
Andy Coussins
SVP – International

Signed

On Behalf of Epicor Software UK Ltd
Richard Clark
Snr Director, Finance