The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of men and women. The same approach is applied to establish the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of minority ethnic staff and white staff. It takes all salaries in the sample, lines them up in order from lowest to highest, and picks the middle salary. We believe this is a more representative measure of the pay gap at Imperial because it is not affected by outliers – a few individuals at the top or bottom of the range.
The mean gender pay gap confirms the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women. The same approach is applied to establish the difference between the average hourly earnings of minority ethnic staff and white staff, plus the difference between the average hourly earnings of staff with no known disability and staff who have declared a disability.
The main reason for both gaps is predominately down to an under-representation of women, minority ethnic and disabled colleagues employed in the senior levels of Imperial: particularly the academic grades and Levels 6 and 7 in the Professional Services job family. This is reflected in the current Imperial representation in the upper quartiles.