Dissertation: Gender Pay Gap in UK Business - Apple UK Ltd Study

This dissertation investigates the gender pay gap in the UK business sector, using Apple UK Ltd as a case study. The research begins with an overview of the pay gap, its rational, aims, objectives, and research questions. A comprehensive literature review explores the existing research on gender pay gaps and their impact on businesses. The methodology outlines the research approach and data collection methods. The findings detail the results of the study, followed by an analysis and evaluation of the results. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for addressing the gender pay gap. The study highlights the disparities in pay between men and women, the factors contributing to the gap, and the influence of pay inequality on financial performance, with references to relevant literature and data.

DISSERTATION
(“The reason behind gender,
pay gap in UK Business: A
study on Apple UK Ltd. “)

Table of Contents
TITLE .............................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................1
Overview of research .................................................................................................................1
Rational of research ...................................................................................................................1
Aims associated with research ...................................................................................................2
Objectives associated with research............................................................................................2
Questions of the research ...........................................................................................................2
Chapter 2: Literature Review ..........................................................................................................3
Chapter 3: Methodology and data collection ................................................................................12
Chapter 4: Results/Findings...........................................................................................................16
Chapter 5: Analysis/Evaluation of Results/Findings ....................................................................25
Chapter 6: Conclusions .................................................................................................................27
Chapter 7: Recommendations........................................................................................................28
.......................................................................................................................................................29
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................30

TITLE
“The reason behind gender, pay gap in UK Business: A study on Apple UK Ltd. “
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview of research
Pay gap in gender is referred to variations in remuneration which has been paid by
organisation to their male and female working employees. It is being noticed that females that
are working for organisation are generally paid less than their male counterparts (Behrman,
Meinzen-Dick and Quisumbing, 2012). Similar is the case in Apple Inc. where women are paid
76p of £1 earned by men. The frequency of paying bonuses were higher in men when compared
with women in the same organisations. Considering the pay difference on median grounds it has
been identified that there is a significant 42% variation in women and men on grounds on
bonuses (The gender Pay gaps at Apple, 2019).
The major cause which has been identified for the pay gap in gender among the
workforce is primarily due to the difference in representation of manpower. The organisation
have been employing higher number of male employees when compared with female employees.
The report suggests that there are only 29% of the women executives operating at a higher level
in the organisation (APPLE REVEALS GENDER PAY GAP FIGURES SHOWING IT PAYS
WOMEN MORE ON SOME MEASURES, 2018). But the organisation have been working
continuously to increase diversity in its workforce which is not only confined to women but also
includes other marginalised groups. The people who are invited to be will be provided with a
inclusive environment which will contribute positively towards production of innovative climate.
For this dissertation, Apple is a chosen which is an America based multinational
organisation operating in technological field. It was came into existence in 1976 and founded by
Steve wozniak, Steve jobs and Ronald Wayne. Company is headquartered in 1Apple Park Way,
Cupertino, California, U.S. This organisation mainly deals in the design, development and
selling of online services, electronics and software to their customers.
Rational of research
The Major rational for this specific research is to identify the main reasons behind pay
gap in United Kingdom organisations such as Apple Limited. It is a multinational company
which will help a society by giving job opportunities as well as improving their living stranded
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(Duguid, Loyd and Tolbert, 2012). This research is most essential in personal as well as
academic manner. In personal manager, researcher can easily improve their data analysis skill,
literature review skill and data interpretation skill. All these type of skills are most essential and
important for investigator to do each tasks along with activities of this research in an organised
way (Egger and Kreickemeier, 2012). In academic perspective, with the assist of this study,
student can easily enhance their knowledge which will support them to analysis impact and
benefits of study.
Aims associated with research
The major aim for the research is "To determine the reason behind gender pay gap in UK
Business: A study on Apple UK Ltd.
Objectives associated with research
 To examine the study of gender pay gap in context of business.
 To identify causes prevailing in Apple UK that leads to gender pay gap.
 To analyse the influence of gender, pay gap over the financial performance of Apple UK.
Questions of the research
 Explain the study of gender pay gap in context of business?
 Describe several causes that leads to gender pay gap in Apple UK?
 What is the influence of gender pay gap over the financial performance of Apple UK?
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
Literature review refers to a document or a scholarly paper which covers accurate
knowledge including theoretical, substantive and methodological findings and contribution to a
specific field of study. In addition, literature review are also known as secondary source for
research and do not include original work which is performed for the first time. Thus, it is as
comprehensive summary and accurate data of previous investigation on a specific topic (Filippin,
and Crosetto, 2016). In simple word, a literature review is a classification, evaluation and
compilation of what other investigators have written on a specific topic. It is a search as well as
analysis of an accessible literature and study in the selected topic area. Main purpose of this
section is to analyse the gaps and conflict in previous study. Along with this, in this section,
research is capable to address all objectives of study in detailed and systematic manner. In order
to identify accurate information about the topic, different authors have to give their opinion and
idea about them. Thus, it will help an investigator to complete each activities of investigation in
accurate and appropriate manner. It is considered as most imperative part of an exploration
finding as it is effective in providing in-depth analysis by evaluating the opinions and
perspectives of different writers and authors (Foster and Walker, 2013). This section is written in
accordance to secondary source of information and data as here the required information is
collected with the help of secondary aspects like journals, books, published research articles etc.
The study of gender pay gap in relation with business organisations
The pay gap among genders is referred to the difference among the earnings of man and
women in an organisation. In simple word, Percentage of male earnings and represents the
variation in the average per hour earnings of male & female employees. Gender pay gap is refers
as the gap between the pay of men and women (Gilchrist, 2012). Gender pay gap is depended
upon two distinct numbers i.e. adjusted versus unadjusted pay gap. The another part is going to
consider deviation in working hours, eduction, occupation which is chosen and the job
experience. As per the views expressed by David Anderson, 2019, gender pay equity is a major
aspect of contention at numerous organisations. Gender pay gap is treated as a main concern that
has huge influence on the operations and functions of business in effective manner. Gender
earning gap is considered as one of the key aspect of required broad strategy which is needed for
addressing job gaps in female participation rate in working context. It is not going to
acknowledge or solve the cultural, structural, policy and procedure issues that originate these
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differences. But this aspect is highly critical in nature. The sexuality pay gap is refers as
deviations and diversion among the per hour wage of both men & women that are working at
same organisation. It includes the comparison of pay scale of all women and men that works
worldwide. not only the just those are in similar area of working field, with same working style
and with akin abilities, qualification and experiences. The aspect of gender pay gap not only
signifies any discrimination or absenteeism of equal pay and earning for same value work (Gill
and Prowse, 2014). It mainly represents gender gap. In the situation when a female employee are
given lower paid jobs in a business organisation that men, the difference in pay scale is mainly
wider. In the context of business, gender pay gap is treated as a major issue which create
differences among the employees and develops issues within working environment. There is a
huge difference in an unequal earning and the gender earning gap. When the pay of women is
less in comparison to the men for same job position, it is not legal in nature and is illegitimate
through the equality related legislation. The concept related with pay gap of opposite genders is
different in nature this it considered as the gapping among the average income of women and
men on the basis of average per hour earning for all workers including females and males
performing similar work. Reports related with the Gender pay gap have no path to analyse if the
opposite genders are given less amount for the same work area or been subjected to biasses or
discrimination. In case of the organisation, gender pay gap is a major issue which may develop
conflicts and issue within working environment, this may also affect the operations and function
of business. It is essential for business firms to decrease the issue and problems of gender pay
gap in relation with increasing operational activities and performance of business in globalise
manner. As per views expressed by Morten Bennedsen, Margarita Tsoutsoura, Elena Simintzi,
Daniel Wolfenzon, 2019, A business can be positive in relation with the inclusion and diversity
while trying to manage gender balance but still faces a wide gender gap. In this context, the pool
of graduate students from which an organisation recruits is not considered as gender balance. In
situation, where company do not give consideration to gender balance, faces problems of high
gender gap. These organisations do not prefer to follow equal pay legislation. It can be said that a
gender pay gap is not able to indicate equality practices in an organisation. (Grant and Sleeter,
2012). In today's modern era gender differences is the major issue as there is not any kind of
difference in men and women working. However they are working on the same profile with
similar efforts, so it is quite important for the businesses to reduce gender pay gap for the
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purpose of attaining higher growth and success. This also create value in developing the morel
and personality of people within work place. Reduction in gender pay gap influence people
mainly encourages women to enhance their capabilities and contribute their significant efforts in
the growth and success of business.
Peer Review
As per the views of the authors it can be stated that gender pay gap is a major issue in the
context of business which has huge impact over the progression of business. Gender pay gap is
refers as as a main concern which has huge impact on the operations and functions of business
in effective manner. In previous timing, organisations are facing issues related with gender pay
gap which affects the growth and sustainability of firm within market place, thus previously
people are not much aware about their rights and concern over attaining equal pay. Instead off in
today's modern business environment, people are very much aware about the concept of gender
pay gap and their rights as well. So the key concern of businesses is to overcome with the issue
of gender pay gap in respect to developing the operations and functions of business. Reduction in
gender pay gap impacts over the individuals in developing their morale by encouraging people at
work place through reducing the issue of gender pay gap.
Different reasons which leads towards gender pay gap in Apple UK
As per opinions expressed by Olivia Petter, 2019, the pay gap in opposite sexes is
considered as the difference among hourly income for both men and women. From the year of
2017 the equality act came into proper existence and the organisations that are employing around
or more than two hundred fifty workers is legally needed to submit about their gender pay gap
when a financial year ends. The organisations also requires to disclose the proportion of women
and men who gets higher range of financial bonuses (Jacka, 2014). Apple deals in large
multinational telecommunication company which has its high brand image within market. The
key consideration of the firm is to treat their employees in equal manner for the purpose of
maintaining stability and coordination among organisational operations. Genders pay gap
understood through analysing the gap which is driven by the representation of women in our
workforce. The differences among the average total pay a male receive relative to women
develops the gap. Around 70 percent of employees population being men, there's a greater
percentage of men in tenured leading positions which pay more, and who acquire effective
amount of bonuses and more stock.
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(Source: Office for national statistics, 2019)
Around the UK for all industries, the men median hourly pay rate is around 18 percent.
However for the retail industry the pay rate is also 18 percent and in IT industry the ratio is 21
percent. In the context of Apple UK the median hourly pay rate is around 10 repent. The key
consideration of Apple is to reduce the error of gender pay gap in respect to encouraging
employees for more qualitative work. There are various causes that create gender pay gap in
which some are associated as below:
Direct Discrimination: This considered as the key aspect which cause gender pay gap within
work place. Direct discrimination is created among male and female staff on the basis of their
skills, competences and knowledge level. However women have less strength and skills that
men, so they is a pay gap arises in which the pay scale of women is less than men. For providing
similar pay to male and female the recruitment of employees can be done on the basis of similar
knowledge, skills, competences or experience (Krishna, Poole and Senses, 2014). As a large
multinational British telecommunication company Apple is widely concern on reducing direct
discrimination among employees on the basis of their gender, thus this create value for the firm
in developing an effective working environment in which people work and make their self
satisfied without facing any kind of issues and errors.
Antisocial Work Culture: This is also another key aspect which directly affect the gender pay
gap within an organisation. For many female who are given employment and jobs under
initiatives like short term contracts or zero hour contracts, the concern related with losing job
outweighs the willingness to challenge and fight against the overall unfair activities and
operations. Apple deals in different segment and among all of them the key activities are
potentially handled by male staffs as they are more liable in completion of the work in more
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Illustration 1: Office for national statistics

effective manner. The company is focused over developing antisocial working culture in respect
to reducing the issue of pay gap in regards to gender discrimination (Lawrence and Weber,
2014). The company has provide equal opportunities to their employees, however they are male
of female on the basis of their knowledge level, capabilities and skills, thus this is effective for
the firm in be safe by the issue of gender pay gap.
Resistance to Change: It is a key aspect which affects the pay gap in genders in a directly
manner. The scale of the issue is self evident in nature thus females in United Kingdom are very
much focused in lower paying role. On the contrary the overall pay gap among males and
females has relay over last 40 year, it is highly resistant. The data of 2017 represents that the
male in average context are paid £1.32 more for a hour in comparison with females employees,
which refers as the man pay proportion and it is a pay gap of around 9.1%. However, For bigger
organisations, the gap is around 11.8%.
(Source: Median gross hourly earnings for full time employees by sex, UK, 2011-2017)
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Illustration 2: Median gross hourly earnings for full time employees by sex, UK, 2011-2017

The give graph represents that around 78 percent of organisations in UK are concern over
reporting under the new law of lay male staff more in average (Mäntylä, 2013). More than half
pay men higher bonuses and around 80 percent have more women in the lowest paid position
than in the highest paid positions.
Gender Condition: This recognised as the most essential aspect that cause the issue of gender
pay gap. The overall working of Apple is categorised among various departments and some are
significantly handled by only male staffs as women are not able to putting their significant
efforts to completion of the work. This discrimination is done on the basis of gender as males are
able to perform task more effectively then females.
According to the views analysis of Dr Charlotte Gascoigne, 2019, Gender pay gap is a
wider issue which cause due to many reasons. In the context of business gender pay gap is the
major considered area which has direct impact over the progression and growth of business.
There are various reasons of gender pay gap within business like at the work place there are
more men in senior roles than women, thus this is the major reason which highly cause gender
pay gap. It is true that, within the working environment of a business there are more men senior
staff than the women , thus senior people are tends to attain more pay than junior and it has huge
negative impact on the overall performance of business. The another reason is caring
responsibility and part time roles are shared unequally, thus it is not possible for all women to do
part time job as they are having few responsibility related with family and children.
The above mentioned are the major causes that develops discrimination among
employees on the basis of gender. It is essential for a business to reducing the errors that cause
discrimination among employees as this has direct impact over the operations and performance
of business. Gender differences, now a day's is a major error which affects the operations of
business in negative manner as employees are not feeling satisfied with their working
environment and the pay differences.
Peer Review
From the opinion analysis of authors it can be stated that in the organisational context
gender pay gap is a major issue which affects the overall operations of business in effective
manner. The authors stated that there are multiple reasons that cause gender pay gap within
business organisations like Direct Discrimination, Antisocial Work Culture, Resistance to
Change, Gender Condition, The work place there are more men in senior roles than women,
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Caring responsibility and part time roles are shared unequally. Theses are few key reasons that
cause gender pay gap within the organisation, however it is essential for the businesses to reduce
these issues in respect to decreasing the problems that cause due to gender pay gap within
organisation. Apple is the most popular telecommunication brand in UK which has its wide work
force and attain profit by the equal efforts of the employees. The company is widely concern
over providing measures to the female candidates related with the work like providing training
and development sessions, proper security facilities, flexible working schedule etc. These
measures are effective for the firm in reducing the issue of gender pay gap within firm. This
could also result in attainment of higher growth and success within commercial centre.
Impact of the gender pay gap on business performance of Apple In UK.
As per the opinion of Juil Clover, 2018, pay gap among different genders is considered as
the deviation in the payment for female & male that are working in any field. The concept of
gender pay gap is related to the less pay of women than men. In context with today's business
environment gender pay gap is treated as a main concern that is widely faces by businesses, thus
gender pay difference possess a huge influence over the performance and operations of an
organisation. Apple works as a large company and widely concern over developing its operations
and functions so that high success and growth can be earned within commercial centre (Mazur,
2013). The company is also focused on reducing the error of gender pay gap in respect to
attaining growth by implementing coordination and collaboration among employees. As per the
views expressed by Buster Hein, 2018, Apple is mainly working on gender equality as the
company has provided equal chance and opportunities to the employees whether they are male or
female, as this generates motivation among employees to implement key efforts in growth and
success of business. The gender pay gap among male and female appears to be lowering for the
employees of Apple in UK. The company represents that its male workers in the UK create 5
percent more than females on average. Thus the median pay of women in favour is around 2
percent. Apple is mainly concern on hiring more female staff with highly qualitative skills and
knowledge and inclusively putting efforts in retaining female workers so that business operations
can be run for a long time. As per the survey, it has been found that from new employees
category around 36 percent are females in UK and currently female staff holds 30 percent job
positions in Apple. Employees are the key aspect of a business, as the success and growth of a
business is based on the efforts of employees at work place. Apple is widely concern on
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