As a UK company that employs more than 250 people, Bayer plc must report on its gender pay gap. The report shows that in the past year, the pay gap between men and women in Bayer has narrowed further.

One of the key findings is that the pay median - or typical salary pay gap of 14.8% – has improved on average year on year and is ahead of the improvement seen nationally. The findings evidence our commitment to uniting a broad spectrum of talented people who bring diversity of ideas, experiences, innovations and product solutions to achieve our ambition: Health for All, Hunger for None.

Bayer UK CEO, Lars Bruening, said: “This is an encouraging step on our path to workplace equity, something I’m really passionate about. Whilst there is still more to be done, Bayer has made a global commitment to ambitious goals for more inclusion and diversity.

“We know that we have work to do, particularly in achieving gender balance in the lowest pay quartiles where there are more women than men. However, our pay and bonus gaps have improved, giving us confidence that we are we making progress towards our goal of a more inclusive, diverse and equitable workforce and culture.”

This year’s report reveals improvements in key underlying statistics, underscoring our ability to continue to change. Of the Bayer workforce in the UK:

• 59 per cent are women (as it was in 2019)
• 53 per cent of those in the UK leadership teams are women (40 per cent in 2019)
• 55 per cent of hires were female (56 per cent in 2019)
• 61 per cent of promotions went to women (52 per cent in 2019)

In the past year, we have taken steps to further embed diversity and inclusion into everything that we do, including:

• running unconscious bias leadership workshops with all senior leaders
• reviewing and enhancing our parental leave policies
• supporting our employees, regardless of gender, through flexible working
• integrating inclusion and diversity into our people and talent practices

Lars Bruening added: “Diversity of background leads to diversity of opinion and experiences. It helps create a strong organisation with people who have different perspectives, better equipped to serve patients and customers everywhere”.

Read the full Gender Pay Gap report for 2020