Summary

This is our third Gender Pay Gap report at Butternut Box, covering a 12-month period including the snapshot date of 5th April 2024. 

Our Squad

This report covers the gender pay gap data for our Squad members based in the UK and our eligible UK Brand Ambassadors. 

The Squad (UK only) here at Butternut is made up of:

• 44% women
• 56% men

Following government guidance, Squad members that do not identify with either gender have not been included in this report.

We focus on the mean pay gap in our reporting because 60% of our Squad are based at Rudie's Kitchen, and 64% of them are male. The mean pay gap is the best reflection of the Squad as it looks at average pay for both men and women.

Our Results

The gender pay gap is the difference in men's and women’s average pay. It doesn’t compare the pay received by men and women for doing the same or equivalent work (that’s called equal pay).

In our latest report, the mean gender pay gap stands at -12.4% (versus 3.7% in 2023), meaning women, on average, are earning 12.4% more than men. This is a significant shift from 2023, when the gap was the 3.7% gap in favour of men.

The shift is down to a few key factors:

• Our mean pay gap can fluctuate due to the taxable value of share options. During this reporting period, Squad members with vested share options could choose to liquidate some of their holdings. However, not all Squad members opted to do so. Any CSOP (a company option scheme) options that were liquidated went through payroll and were therefore included in our calculations for this report. In contrast, some Squad members exercised and sold EMI options, which did not go through payroll and thus are not reflected in these figures (in line with government guidelines).
• As a result of the above, bonus pay (which includes pay from share options) was 17.8% higher for women than for men, as a greater proportion of women chose to liquidate CSOP options.
• Women accounted for 72.9% of new hires into office roles. The majority of new hires in Operations were Step 1 roles. This resulted in higher overall salaries for female new joiners compared to male.

• Promotions played a role, with women who were promoted seeing a 15.9% average pay increase from 2023 to 2024, compared to 9.9% for men. There were fewer women in our lower pay quartile, as more women than men were promoted from Step 1 to 2 and Step 2 to 3. 

• Women also made up 60.5% of office promotions, while men accounted for 39.5%. This distribution led to higher overall salaries for women being promoted and also meant that the roles they were promoted into had higher salaries compared to those of men.
• Finally, pay increases outside of promotions saw women receiving a slightly higher average salary increase of 7.9% compared to 7.5% for men.

These combined factors can help explain how our Gender Pay Gap has inverted in 2024.

When excluding bonuses, the mean pay gap stands at -7.2%, indicating that women earn, on average, 7.2% more than men. The proportion of women in the lower hourly pay quartile has decreased, with 17.8% of men holding Step 1 roles compared to 6.8% for women, while women’s representation in the upper hourly pay quartile has increased. 

While the mean pay gap is our primary metric, we also look at several other stats and insights:

• Our median pay gap is -6.0% up from -8.1% in 2023.
• Our mean bonus pay gap is -17.8% up from -28.12% in 2023.
• Our median bonus pay gap is -9.9% versus 0% in 2023.

What we've been working on

👉 We've rolled out a training program for all of our Operations and Kitchen-based teams in 2024, designed to drive awareness on how to build a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.

👉 In 2024 we launched our first Barkademy, a four month program delivered to 19 squad members and emerging leaders. The Barkademy consists of 4 workshops focusing on self-leadership, developing excellence, driving strategy and inspiring action. Our Freshers are matched with a mentor to gain exposure to different connections, expertise and experience giving them valuable insights into other dimensions of Butternut.

👉 We consider our gender equity when running our annual compensation reviews. Throughout the process, we consistently review our data to make sure we're aligning with our commitment to fairness and the progress made to date.

We'll keep working on making our People processes and employee benefits even better. Our goal is to make sure everyone at Butternut Box feels valued and equal, no matter their background or circumstances.

Edward Carey

Chief Financial Officer