PPL publishes 2022 gender & ethnicity pay gap figures
Today UK music licensing company PPL is publishing its 2022 gender and ethnicity pay gap figures, as well as setting out its five-year staff diversity aims and a strategy through which these aims are to be achieved.
Despite not being formally required to publish its gender and ethnicity pay gap figures, PPL is taking these steps on a voluntary basis as part of its goal to create a more diverse and inclusive company and music industry, with transparency being central to this goal. In doing so, PPL is also affirming its commitment to the UK Music Diversity Taskforce Ten Point Plan, which urges UK Music members to implement better transparency around gender and ethnicity pay gaps and to develop diversity policies and internally set diversity targets for core staff.
Gender Pay Gap
As at April 5 2022, PPL’s mean gender pay gap was 11.7% in favour of men and its median pay gap was 13.6% in favour of men.
Ethnicity Pay Gap
As at 5 April 2022, PPL’s mean ethnicity pay gap is 30.2% in favour of white employees and its median ethnicity pay gap is 17% in favour of white employees.[1]
In a company the size of PPL, the pay for roles at the most senior levels can impact statistics if there are more men than women in those roles, which is currently the case for PPL. Similarly, ethnicity pay gap statistics will be affected by the distribution of white and non-white employees across all levels of the business, which at present sees a greater proportion of non-white staff in the lowest quartile at PPL.
The benefit of having these figures is that PPL can access the impact and effectiveness of the measures it has already put in place to improve representation across all levels of the business and, where necessary, modify or bolster them to address any issues that its analysis of such figures reveals.
As part of its overall EDI strategy, PPL has set out where it wants staff diversity to be in five years from now. Using the most recently available Census data[2] for London and the South East, where 96% of its staff live, PPL has set the following staffing aims:
| Male | Female | Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic | White | |
| 2027 aim | 50% | 50% | 30% | 70% |
| April 5 2022 | 61% | 39% | 27% | 73% |
PPL is also planning to undertake a campaign around voluntary data disclosure for Disability and LGBTQIA+ to build out a more accurate picture across the business, following which it can establish overall targets for these areas. In the meantime, PPL continues to develop its EDI work and strategy across all aspects of diversity.
To achieve these stated aims, PPL has set a number of priorities with associated deliverables for the next five years, which it is publishing today. The priorities include creating a wholly inclusive environment, altering and enhancing PPL recruitment practices to attract a diverse workforce, expanding development opportunities for future PPL leaders with a focus on underrepresented groups, and driving positive change across the music industry.
Peter Leathem, Chief Executive Officer at PPL, said:
“For years PPL worked to be a more equitable, diverse and inclusive business. However, after George Floyd’s murder, Black Out Tuesday and the subsequent movement to deliver change, we understood we could do more and do better. We have made important steps in recent years but there is still more to be done. Today’s announcement sets out where we are now and where we want to be and ensures we are accountable to our staff and our industry. This is not only the right thing to do, but it is also good for business – with a more diverse workforce PPL will be a stronger company. Thank you to Kate Reilly for leading the company’s efforts and also to our many partners and friends around the industry for supporting us in our work. We would not be able to do this without them.”
Kate Reilly, Chief People Officer at PPL, said:
“Throughout the last decade, PPL has been on a continuous journey to make the company – and the wider industry – a place that is welcoming to all. We have worked harder to make PPL a better place to work for all staff, regardless of any protected characteristic. Tomi Oyewumi joined us as our first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Partner and has worked closely with me to develop the aims and strategy that we publish today. As a member of the UK Music Diversity Taskforce, PPL is also working with our fellow member organisations to ensure we are representative of the diverse industry we speak for. Today’s announcement marks another step forward for PPL in becoming a more equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation and I’m looking forward to what we will achieve in the future.”
[1] In the absence of a statutory framework for publishing ethnicity pay gap figures, PPL has based its approach on the model also used for gender pay gap reporting using the broad categories of “white” and “non-white”. Whilst 18 different ethnicity groups are recognised by the Office for National Statistics, it can be difficult for a comparatively small employer like PPL to derive meaningful reporting from using what become very small data samples when split across multiple groupings. Using the broader categories has proved to be a common approach among employers who have undertaken voluntary ethnicity pay gap reporting. However, we will keep our approach under review for future years’ reporting.
[2] The latest Census data was due to be published in February 2022. This has yet to be published and PPL understands this will not happen before summer 2022. PPL is therefore proceeding with 2011 Census data and will review the targets in due course.
