Gender Pay Gap 2023
April 3, 2024
GENDER PAY GAP REPORT
Founded in 2001, Splash Damage creates team-based shooters that foster life-long friendships, embodying our dedication to diversity and our efforts to close the gender pay gap. Now in our 6th year of reporting, we’ve achieved a 7% improvement in our median pay gap and a significant 10% increase in women in senior roles, despite the sector facing unprecedented challenges, from widespread layoffs to economic uncertainties.
This year, we’ve notably increased the number of women in our teams, particularly in upper mid-level roles, marking a pivotal step towards a more balanced representation.
This year, our Women at Splash Damage (WASD) group has been pivotal in championing gender diversity and equity, focusing on building pathways to leadership for women, creating mentorship opportunities, and advocating for transparent salary and promotion criteria. Following this report, WASD will lead a presentation and Q&A panel to illuminate the experiences of women in the gaming industry, embodying our drive for a more inclusive and supportive community at Splash Damage.
As we look ahead, we’re acutely aware that our journey forward is still a long and complex one. Our legacy, deeply rooted in genres traditionally dominated by male players, poses unique challenges to achieve a balance of genders, particularly in the upper echelons of our workforce. As we witness the gradual transformation at the foundational levels, our optimism for a more equitable industry only strengthens, reflecting our studio’s ongoing commitment to being a place where talented and passionate people are supported to thrive.
Rich Jolly, Co-Founder & CEO
Closing the Gender Pay Gap is a long-term goal that can only improve with consistent effort and focus. Gender pay equity isn’t a once a year conversation, it’s something every business will be working on for years to come.
Comparing our middle most salaries, it’s excellent to see that our mean gender pay gap has improved significantly. In part, this is due to us reworking our pay strategy to ensure we are reflecting the market and rewarding our talented people.
However, our median gender pay gap shows a small drop. Increasing diversity at the senior levels of the business is the main way we can influence this number. As our team grows, we’re committed to continue hiring in a fair way that prioritises skills and experience.
Janine Vessey, HR Director
What is the Gender Pay Gap Report?
Enacted in 2017, the UK Government’s Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting legislation is an amendment to the Equality Act 2010 and requires employers of over 250 people to report:
- The proportion of men and women in each pay quartile
- The Mean and Median gender pay gap in hourly pay
- The Mean and Median bonus gender pay gap, and the proportion of men and women receiving a bonus payment
This is different from the wider terms of the Equality Act which ensures parity in pay for men and women in the same role.
The data in this report is based on a snapshot from 5 April 2023 and any bonus pay received in the 12 months before this date.
It’s important to note that gender pay gap reporting requires us to compare salaries of employees who identify as men and women. Across our teams there are people of all genders – 3.5% of our team identify as non-binary, gender fluid or agender and because of the boundaries of this report they are not included in this data.
Our Results
You can take a look at our previous reports here:
- Gender Pay Gap Report 2022
- Gender Pay Gap Report 2021
- Gender Pay Gap Report 2020
- Gender Pay Gap Report 2019
- Gender Pay Gap Report 2018
Our median gender pay gap is 18.32%, which has unfortunately increased by 0.26% since the last reporting period of 2022 – it is, however, still an improvement on 2021.
Our mean gender pay gap is 19.90%, which is a 3.73% improvement from 2022.
Our gender representation in the reportable data is 81.43% men, and 18.66% women.
Pay Quartiles
Quartiles are calculated by first listing the rates of pay for each employee across the business from lowest to highest, and then splitting that list into four equal-sized groups, then calculating the percentage of men and women in each of these groups.
This is our 6th year reporting this data. Looking back at our previous reports, we can see a trend of improvement in our quartiles.
In our 2020 report 31% of our Lower Quartile were people who identified as women. In this year’s report we can see those people have moved up the ladder and built their careers at Splash.
Since 2020 we’ve seen a 4% improvement in female representation in our Upper Quartile, and a 10% improvement in both our Upper Middle Quartiles and Lower Middle Quartiles.
Mean & Median Pay Gap
The median hourly rate is calculated by ranking all employees from the highest paid to the lowest paid, and taking the hourly wage of the person in the middle. The median gender pay gap is the difference between women’s median hourly wage (the middle-paid woman) and men’s median hourly wage (the middle-paid man).
The mean pay gap compares the average pay for women with the average pay for men.
Median
- Our median gender pay gap is 18.32%.
- When comparing median hourly rates, women earn 82p for every £1 men earn.
Mean
- Our mean gender pay gap is 19.90%.
- When comparing mean hourly rates, women earn 80p for every £1 men earn.
To be clear, Splash Damage does not have a disparity between men and women performing the same job role. Men and women at Splash Damage are being paid equally for equivalent roles. The larger proportion of men in the upper quartiles is the main cause of this pay gap.
Bonuses
We’re seeing that for this reporting period a higher percentage of women received a bonus compared to men.
- 97% of women received a bonus compared to 92% last report.
- 86% of men received a bonus compared to 94% last report.
In terms of the amount paid out in bonuses – in this reporting period we delayed paying our c-suite bonuses to prioritise bonuses for the wider team. This means that our c-suite bonuses landed outside of our normal cadence and has led to our mean and median bonus data in this report skewing towards men.
For this reporting period the data is showing our mean bonus is increased in favour of men at 32.09%. Our median bonus is 7.77% in favour of men. We expect for this to improve in the next report with our bonus scheme landing back into normal cadence.
Declaration
I confirm that the data contained within this report is accurate and meets the requirements of the Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations.
Richard Jolly, Co-Founder & CEO