The median pay gap shows the difference between the midpoint of hourly earnings for different groups of staff. It compares the median hourly pay of men and women, minority ethnic staff and white staff, and staff with no known disability and those who have declared a disability.
To calculate the median, all hourly pay rates are ordered from lowest to highest and the middle value is identified. 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 used to calculate the difference between the average hourly earnings of minority ethnic staff and white staff, and between staff with no known disability and those 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.