Rightmove admits gender pay gap because so few managers are women

Rightmove has told its shareholders that it expects further growth this year, with estate agents continuing to increase their spend.

In its newly issued annual report for last year – when revenue and underlying profit were both up 11% – the portal says income per advertiser is still rising, with traffic to Rightmove growing for a 16th consecutive year.

Although the report warns that low housing transactions could mean a reduction in the number of agents, and also carries the risk of a reduced advertising spend by surviving agents, it suggests that other advertising mediums would be most affected.

The report also shows how male dominated Rightmove is in its management, despite 51% of its workforce being female. However, just 24% of senior managers are women.

The annual report admits that women are under-represented in the higher paid senior management sector, but also says that men are under-represented in the “customer experience team”.

The fact that so fewer women are seniors has led to a gender pay gap, says Rightmove, which stresses that technology “is a sector blighted by a lack of gender diversity, but accepting the status quo is not in our DNA”.

The report sets out steps to reverse the male-dominated leadership culture, including new flexible working relationships. It plans to exceed a target of 33% of the leadership team being female by 2020.

The annual report also sets out pay arrangements for its top people, saying that if CEO Peter Brooks-Johnson exceeds all targets this year, he will earn over £2m.

However, this would not be unusual: both his predecessors, Nick McKittrick, who retired last year aged under 50, and Ed Williams who stepped down in 2013, earned more than this. Williams earned almost £5m in 2011, says the annual report.

Non-executive directors of Rightmove will earn upwards of £50,000, with chairman Scott Forbes due to get £170,000. Their pay is unchanged from last year.

Rightmove’s AGM, where shareholders will be asked to approve the remuneration packages, is on May 4.

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3 Comments

  1. Bless You

    Thats what you get for being first to market….

    I still have to look at intel on an old machine becuase of the stupid security settings they have for logging in. 

    I wish they started allowing adverts and stop bleeding agents.

     

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  2. smile please

    Be it management or Customer Service , surely it is who is best for the job?

    I have never employed on based on gender.

    Its depends how they come across on the interview. Maybe Males are more authoritative and inspire leadership better than females. Maybe females show more empathy which is why they are in a customer facing role.

    To recruit on gender just to tick a box seems a little silly to me.

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    1. PeeBee

      Spot on, smile please.

      For a company to state it has “targets” for gender-based management employment is in my opinion a clear admission that it is a company that has completely lost focus on its’ core purpose.

      We are now paying for boxes to be ticked, folks.  Remember that.

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