Investigating Gender Pay Gap and Diversity in Sainsbury's Workplace

This report examines equality and diversity within the workplace, specifically investigating the gender pay gap at Sainsbury's. The research includes aims and objectives, a project management plan with a Gantt chart and WBS, and a detailed research methodology employing qualitative methods. Data collection involved questionnaires and secondary sources, followed by thematic analysis. The findings reveal employee awareness of equality and diversity, reasons behind the gender pay gap, challenges faced by the company, and recommendations for improvement. The report also includes ethical considerations and a reflection on the learning process, providing a comprehensive analysis of the topic and offering actionable insights for enhancing workplace equality and diversity.

EQUALITY AND
DIVERSITY IN THE
WORKPLACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P 1 Aims and objectives.........................................................................................................3
P 2 Project management plan.................................................................................................4
P 3 Gantt chart and WBS........................................................................................................6
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................8
P 4 Research methodology.....................................................................................................8
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................10
P 5 Data analysis and interpretation.....................................................................................10
P 6 Recommendations..........................................................................................................18
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................19
P 7 Reflection on own learning and performance................................................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................22
Questionnaire........................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Background
Equality is defined as the ability of the person to provide equal opportunities for all the
employees within the company (Thompson, 2016). It is very necessary for the company to
maintain equality and diversity at the workplace as it will increase the morale of the employees
and they will work harder. On the other hand, gender pay gap is defined as the discrimination
which is done on basis of the pay given to employees on basis of gender.
The present research is based on Sainsbury which is a chain of supermarket founded in
the year 1869 within the retail industry. The present research will work in direction of finding
reason behind the increase in the pay gap on basis of gender. Also, this research will discuss
some of the measures which Sainsbury can use in order to improve equality and diversity at the
workplace.
LO 1
P 1 Aims and objectives
Aim
“To investigate the main reason for the gap between the pay of the employee in basis of gender
within the company. A study on Sainsbury.”
Objectives
 To understand the concept of gender, pay gap within the business organization.
 To analyse the different reason for the increasing gap among the salaries and wages of
employees on basis of gender.
 To evaluate the different challenges which the company face at time of implementing the
strategies for maintaining equality and diversity.
 To suggest some strategies and measures of improving the equality among the company.
Research questions
1) What do you understand by gender pay gap?
2) What are the reasons behind the increase in the gap among males and females relating to
the wages and salaries?
3) What are the challenges faced by company in implementing equality and diversity
challenges?
4) Recommend some measures of improving equality and diversity?

Rationale
The main reason behind this research topic is to find different measures of reducing the
pay gap among the males as compared to the females within the corporate world. This is because
in this highly competitive world there is huge difference in between the males and females in
terms of the pay which they get (Ogbonna, 2015). Another reason of choosing this as a research
topic is the personal interest of the researcher. This is so because of the fact that the scholar
wants to enhance their knowledge relating to measures which can improve equality and diversity
at the workplace.
P 2 Project management plan
The project management plan is a document which outlines all the steps which are taken for the
completion of a project. This includes different phases like project initiation, planning,
execution, monitoring and controlling and in the end closure of the project. The different
elements of project management plan are as follows-
 Scope- The scope of the project is very wide as it will help the company in identifying
different ways in which it can improve the equality and diversity at the workplace. Also,
this will help other similar companies to find the different measures of reducing the
gender pay gap in the company.
 Time- This is the most essential aspect of the project management plan because of the
fact that the research needs to be completed on time (Chen, Kang and Lee, 2017). The
time required for the completion of the project and its different phases is around 11 to 12
weeks.
 Cost- This includes all the necessary expenses which are levied at time of the completion
of the project. In the project completion there occur many different expenses which
involves some or the other cost which the researcher ha to pay. For this project
completion the cost involves is approximately £1200.
 Quality- This is the most essential aspect of the completion of the project because the
research needs to be of good quality and standard. For maintaining the quality, the
researcher needs to abide by all the different laws and standards of the phases of the
project. For this the most important thing the researcher can do is to use all the reliable
and authentic sources of data (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016).

 Communication- This is also an important part of the project management plan. This is
mainly because of the fact that only researching is not enough till the result of the
research are not communicated with the intended audience. The communication is also
required at time of collecting the information from the respondents. This can be done
with the help of different communication tools like questionnaire, face- to- face
communication, messages and many other different measures.
 Resources- Also, for carrying out the research there are many different types of resources
and materials used which makes the research more useful (Wroblewski and De Micheli,
2017). The resources involved at time of project making are like human resource,
technology and related equipment, data, financial resources and many others.
 Risk- this is also an important factor of the project management plan which outlines all
the possible risk which the researcher may face in completion of the research. These risks
can be like limitation of resources, time limitation, threat of unauthentic data, security of
data and many other risks associated at time of completion of research.
Milestone schedule
Milestone Due date Justification
Identification of aim and
objectives
30/12/2019 The aims and objective will be
prepared one day in advance so
that it can be checked by the
tutor.
Research methodology 06/01/2020 This will be executed three
days before as this will help
researcher in cross checking
that whether all the research
method used are correct or not.
Data analysis 03/02/2020 The collected data will be
interpreted two days in
advance so that if there are any
loop hole they can be met
before the deadline.

P 3 Gantt chart and WBS
Gantt chart
Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Schedule
d
Formulation of research aim
and objective 2 days Mon 12/30/19 Tue 12/31/19
Auto
Schedule
d
Project management plan 3 days Wed 1/1/20 Fri 1/3/20 1
Auto
Schedule
d
Research methods selection 4 days Mon 1/6/20 Thu 1/9/20 2
Auto
Schedule
d
Formulation of questionnaire 6 days Fri 1/10/20 Fri 1/17/20 3
Auto
Schedule
d
Sending questionnaire for data
collection 2 days Mon 1/20/20 Tue 1/21/20 2,4
Auto
Schedule
d
Recording data set in a
structured format 5 days Wed 1/22/20 Tue 1/28/20 5
Auto
Schedule
d
Interpreting gathered data set 6 days Wed 1/29/20 Wed 2/5/20 6
Auto
Schedule
d
Concluding findings and
recommending solutions 2 days Thu 2/6/20 Fri 2/7/20 7
Auto
Schedule
d
Formatting 3 days Mon 2/10/20 Wed 2/12/20 8
Auto
Schedule
d
Taking feedback 2 days Thu 2/13/20 Fri 2/14/20 9
Auto
Schedule
d
Doing changes as per the
feedback provided 4 days Mon 2/17/20 Thu 2/20/20 10
Auto
Schedule
d
Final submission 1 day Fri 2/21/20 Fri 2/21/20 11

Work breakdown structure

LO 2
P 4 Research methodology
Literature review
In words of Graf, Brown and Patten, (2018) gender pay gap is defined as the
discrimination done by paying less salaries and wages on the basis of the gender. In simple terms
the differences made in between the male and female by paying less to the females in
comparison with the males. This gap is increasing to a great extent in this highly competitive
world. But Auspurg, Hinz and Sauer, (2017) state that the major reason behind the high gender
pay gap is the mentality or the thinking of the people that women are less competent in
comparison with the males and are treated as weaker then males.
In contrast to this Fortin, Bell and Böhm, (2017) argues that the major reason behind this
inequality is the different culture and the socio- economic factors. This is majorly because of the
fact that people of different culture have different opinions relating to the working women and
this also causes discrimination among the employees on basis of pay and gender. But Gürerk,
Irlenbusch and Rockenbach, (2018) articulate that the major challenge faced by the companies in
maintaining the equality and diversity at the workplace is that diversity at the workplace. This is
a challenge for the companies as the employees comes from different and diverse culture and it is
very difficult for the company to cater to the needs of all the employees.

Research methodology
 Research type- The research can be carried on in two different manner that is the
qualitative research and the quantitative research. For the present study that is
identification of reason behind the high gender pay gap the researcher has used the
qualitative research (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015). This has been selected by the
researcher because of the fact that researcher need to find the theoretical aspect of the
research topic and for it the qualitative research is suitable.
 Research approach- This is defined as the different set of assumptions in relation with all
the steps in the research. These are of two different type that is deductive and inductive.
For the current research the approach used is the inductive as in this no hypothesis are
formulated and the sole aim is to achieve the aims and objectives of the research. Research philosophy- It is the beliefs about the way in which the data is gathered and
tested. It is of two type that is positivism and interpretivism. For the execution of the
current research the interpretivism is used by the scholar as it is best suited with the
qualitative research.
 Data collection- This is defined as the collection of data and this is the most crucial step
as if data will not be there then how the research will be carried on. The data is collected
by two different sources that is primary and secondary. For present research combination
of both primary and secondary is used. For primary the questionnaire is used and for
secondary the views of different authors relating to the research topic is used.
 Sampling- This is defined as the studying of the sample in order to study and
generalising all the conclusion for the whole population. In sampling out of the whole
population some of the samples are selected and are tested and conclusion are drawn for
whole population. For current study the sample is the 25 employees of Sainsbury.
 Data analysis- This is the most crucial part of the research because only collection of
data is not enough rather it need to have some meaning from the collected data
(Clandinin, Cave and Berendonk, 2017). Thus, for this the researcher uses the thematic
analysis because of the fact that under this method the data is displayed with help of
tables and chart and this makes it clearer and more attractive as well.

 Ethical consideration- This is the most essential part of the research because if this is not
considered then the research will not be reliable and valid. Thus, it is very necessary for
the researcher to use all the authentic and valid sources for the data collection (Caillaud,
Rose and Goepp, 2016). Also, for asking the question form the participant it is the duty of
the researcher to get the ethical form signed by the respondent.
LO 3
P 5 Data analysis and interpretation
Theme 1: Yes, awareness relating to equality and diversity is there in employees
Particular Respondent % of respondent
Yes 15 60
No 10 40
Total 25 100
Interpretation: From the data of the above question it is analysed that all the employees within
the company are aware of the equality and diversity to be maintained by the company for
efficient working. This is majorly because of the fact that this fosters the working and motivation
level of the employees. His is agreed upon by 60 % of the respondents. However, rest of the 40
% didn’t agreed to this fact. This is because of the fact that they think company is not doing
anything for promotion of the equality and diversity at the workplace.

Theme 2: Strongly agree the company promotes equality and diversity at workplace
Particular Respondent % of respondent
Strongly agree 10 40
Agree 2 8
Neutral 5 20
Disagree 4 16
Strongly disagree 4 16
Total 25 100
Interpretation: With the help of the analysis of the data collected for this question it is concluded
that maximum of the respondent that is 40 % of them strongly agrees that the company promotes
the practices which brings equality and diversity at the workplace. But 20 % of them are neutral
to the fact that whether the company do anything in favour of promoting the equal opportunities
for all the employees. However, the rest of the participants either disagree or strongly disagree to
the fact that company uses strategies of reducing discrimination and promoting equality and
diversity.
Theme 3: Yes, equality and diversity enhance the productivity and profitability of the company
Particular Respondent % of respondent
Yes 22 88
No 3 12
Total 25 100

Interpretation: From the analysis of the above information it is inferred that yes is the equality
and diversity enhance the productivity and profitability of the company. This is agreed upon by
88 % of the participants. This is pertaining to the fact that if all the practices of company provide
equal opportunity to all the employees then they will work with full motivation and energy.
Hence, the profitability and productivity of the company will increase. But 12 % of the
respondent do not agree that the equality and diversity increase the productivity and profitability
of the company.
Theme 4: Yes, gender pay gap impact the efficiency of the company
Particular Respondent % of respondent
Yes 20 80
No 5 20
Total 25 100