Apple reveals gender pay gap figures showing it pays women more on some measures

Other companies have generated intense criticism by revealing wide differences in the ways men and women are paid

Apple CEO Tim Cook poses for a selfie as he visits an Apple store in Chicago, March 27, 2018 (JIM YOUNG/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple has revealed its gender pay gap figures, showing that on some measures it actually pays women better than men.

The release comes at the end of the window offered by the government, which is requiring all companies that have more than 250 employees to publicly state whether they pay men and women differently. Many of the numbers have prompted substantial outcry, with most companies reporting a gap in the double digits.

For Apple, median difference in pay between men and women at the company is 2 per cent in favour of women, Apple reported. But there is still a gap in the mean average, with men paid 5 per cent more than women on that measure.

That puts it far ahead of the UK median average of 18 per cent, and also substantially ahead of the pay gap in the retail and IT industries.

But the company still had some important differences in how men and women are rewarded. As well as having a 5 per cent gap in mean hourly pay, there was a large gap in the bonuses that men and women receive, with a 22 per cent mean average difference between the bonuses paid to women and men.

Apple said that the gender pay gap between men and women in its company was driven by the difference in their representation in the workforce. It employs much less women than men, especially at its higher levels – only 29 per cent of its highest paid staff are female.

The company said in its release to the government that it was working to increase diversity in its workforce, not only in terms of women and men but also to include other marginalised groups. It is looking to hire more and more diverse talent, for instance, and is running inclusive programmes for those members of staff when they arrive.

"That’s why we’re deeply committed to increasing the number of women, of all races and ethnicities, who work, grow and thrive at Apple in dozens of professional fields and at all levels," the introduction to Apple's gender pay gap report reads.

It also said that it would add a new effort to decrease the gap. It will stop asking people for their salary histories, it said, in an effort to ensure that everyone is paid as they should be.

The company has appointed new heads of HR and diversity in recent months, and has added new programmes aimed at addressing issues of inclusion that have been criticised across the technology industry. As well as programmes inside the company, it has also been addressing some of its more outward-facing problems, with more and more women and people of colour appearing on stage at its events.

Apple says that it has achieved pay equity, which requires that companies ensure that everyone in the company is paid the same as others who do the same level of work. That has happened not just in the UK but across its businesses.

Apple's report breaks the company down into three separate businesses, each of which are big enough to require reporting under the new gender pay gap rules. Of those three, its retail business had the smallest pay gap while the company known as Apple UK – which is made up of staff working in its corporate offices – had the largest.

"We believe people come to Apple to do their life’s best work," wrote Deirdre O’Brien, Apple's head of HR, in the introduction to the report. "It’s the diversity of our employees and their ideas that inspires the innovation that runs through everything we do.

"We’re determined to continue our progress towards a workforce that’s more representative of the world around us. It’s part of our commitment to leaving the world better than we found it."

The full details of Apple's pay gap and its work to reduce it can be found on its website.