Casey Group leads gender pay disparity In Rochdale 

The Casey Group have been revealed as the employer with the biggest gender pay gap in Rochdale.

The company, which undertakes building construction and refurbishment across the region, sees male employees earn on average 28.4% more than female colleagues, new figures have shown.

Commenting on the figures, the firm said: “As a company we have long been committed to providing equal opportunities in the workplace and fair and transparent terms and conditions of employment for all of our staff. However we do recognise the significant national constraints of our industry sector in terms of attracting women in particular to work in construction, and the wider societal issues affecting women in the workplace.

"The company have, and will continue to support, initiatives such as ‘Women In Construction’ in an attempt to increase our gender diversity.”

The next biggest disparity in Rochdale is at Zen Internet, where men are recorded as being paid 21.7% more than women.

Ayshea Robertson, HR director at Zen Internet, said: “Zen is committed to addressing the issues raised by the gender pay gap results. Initial analysis has shown us that men and women are paid equally for doing equivalent roles at Zen.

“The main driver of our pay gap is due to the low numbers of women within our business and more specifically within our senior management and technical roles. This is not an issue unique to Zen – it is a recognised sector-wide issue for Technology companies.

“Over the next 12 months we will be taking conscious steps to try and close our gender pay gap.

“Tackling gender balance will be key; and we will look at ways to attract more women into technology and ensure that we maintain an inclusive and supportive workplace.”

Across Rochdale as a whole, 41.6% of the 12 businesses were found to be paying women the same or better as men, 58.4% paid male employees more.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Limited was the only company found to be exhibiting the biggest gender pay gap in favour of women, who earned 10.9% more than men on average, whilst Footasylum PLC pays men and women the same.

The gender pay gap has been the focus of much attention in recent months, with figures being the result of a concerted campaign by the Prime Minister Theresa May to tackle the issue via increased awareness and transparency.

Over 10,000 companies published their gender pay gap data, with 78% of them paying men more than women, and 14 per cent paying women more. Only 8% were found to have no pay gap between men and women.

With the deadline for companies to report their data to the Government now having expired, local residents can now use a new interactive tool created by business support specialists Rangewell to check gender pay gaps across the city for themselves, and see where their own employers rank. A national tool that allows users to search, compare and share their findings on all 10,200 companies that have reported data nationwide is also available.