On 31 March we published our latest gender pay gap reports, which measure the difference in mean and median earnings (for pay and for bonuses) between all women and all men at Carnival UK, across all positions. Our latest reports provide details of our gender pay gap for fleet and shoreside as of 5 April 2024.
We recognise that the current gender pay gap legislation doesn’t consider individuals who identify as non-binary. However, as an inclusive employer we strive for inclusion and fairness regardless of how individuals identify. This is why we’ve created diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reports to accompany our gender pay gap reporting to highlight how we’re championing DEI for all colleagues at Carnival UK. Here’s a summary of the headlines:
Fleet
Our Fleet DEI report provides details of the gender pay gap of employees working on Carnival UK’s ships Arvia, Britannia, and Iona as of April 2024. As we’re reporting in line with UK legislation, the report includes data from these ships only as they were registered in the United Kingdom at the time of the snapshot. The employees included in this snapshot work on our ships, however they are employed by Fleet Maritime Services International (FMSI) and Fleet Maritime Services Bermuda (FMSB).
The 2024 pay gap for employees of Fleet Maritime Services International (FMSI) is positive. However, women remain underrepresented on our ships, and we’re committed to addressing this industry challenge.
According to the BIMCO International Chamber of Shipping report 2021, the representation of women on board our ships is 15 times higher than the numbers quoted for the global seafarer workforce. However, women are still significantly underrepresented across our fleet. As these patterns are seen across the industry, they require a long-term strategy to address them. Alongside our work to attract diverse talent to our ships, we’re committed to better understanding and improving women’s experience on board.
The numbers:
- The mean pay gap for FMSI has decreased by two percentage point to 2%, and median pay gap has increased by seven percentage points to 7%.
- For FMSI, the 2024 snapshot includes 3,895 relevant colleagues for pay (over 500 more than the 2023 snapshot).
- The median pay gap and mean pay gap for FMSB are both 48% (up two percentage points and five percentage points respectively).
- For FMSB, the 2024 snapshot includes 321 relevant colleagues for pay, up 53 people since 2023.
- The large difference in headlines for FMSI and FMSB is driven by the low number of reportable colleagues and a higher representation of males in the upper quartile.
- The mean bonus gap is 12%, with 51% of males received a bonus and 50% of females.
- FMSI mean bonus gap has decreased from 9% to 3% and the median gap has moved from 17% to 3%.
- FMSB mean bonus gap has increased from 22% to 69% and the median pay gap has increased from 34% to 75%.
It’s important to note that year-on-year comparisons of the gender pay gap for fleet colleagues don’t provide us with a useful trend in data. This is because colleagues working on board at the time of the snapshot can change significantly each year.
For more information, please read the full Fleet report here.
Shoreside
Since 2018, our mean gender pay gap has reduced by 12 percentage points. We’ve continued to increase female representation across leadership roles at Carnival UK, creating the gradual decrease we now see in our mean gender pay gap. We continue to have strong female representation in managerial and senior leadership positions, and we have the most equitable split of males and females in the upper and upper middle quartiles at 57:43 (male: female). We’ve also recently appointed Helen Adams into the Chief Financial Officer role which has positively increased female representation on the Executive Leadership Team and will be reflective in next year’s gender pay gap reporting.
The high representation of women in our lower quartiles (i.e. entry level roles) is having the greatest impact on our gender pay gap. Whilst our ambition will always be gender balance across all levels of the organisation, it is gender balance below management level (CUK09-15) that will have the biggest impact in reducing our gender pay gap and bring it in line with the national average gap.
We recognise that this kind of shift requires a long-term strategy. As an inclusive employer we will continue with a range of activities to attract and retain diverse talent but also recognise that there are some types of roles (e.g. guest facing contact centre operations) and flexible working patterns (home working or part-time hours) that traditionally attract more females than males. This is a trend that is seen industry wide and is not unique to Carnival UK.
The numbers:
- Our mean gender pay gap has decreased by two percentage points to 32% – the greatest decrease we’ve seen since 2019.
- Our median pay gap has decreased by one percentage point to 37%.
- Our mean bonus gap sees a small decrease of three percentage points with our median bonus gap seeing a significant decrease of twenty-five percentage points to 46%.
For more information, please read the full Shoreside report here.
Our goal is to create an environment where everyone can be themselves and thrive and for Carnival UK to be known as Travel’s employer of choice, chosen for its inclusive culture. We continue to focus on creating an inclusive environment to attract the best talent and to enable our people to innovate and grow, whatever their background, belief, or preferences.
We remain committed to closing our gender pay gap with long-term solutions focused on a gender-balanced talent pipeline and supporting women to progress their careers with us.
6 Comments
This is just disgusting and disappointing, the fact that we have to make a report on pay gap between genders is unacceptable, there shouldn’t be any gap.
Thank you for your comment. All companies with more than 250 employees have to report a gender pay gap as part of a UK government legislative requirement. At Carnival UK, we have created a Diversity and Inclusion report (you can find the link to this in the article above) to help explain the gender pay gap so that it’s not just a number, as well as share all the work we’re doing to be an inclusive employer. We’re also able to demonstrate that for Carnival UK the gender pay gap is driven by differences in the amount of men and women in the business, it’s not driven by unfairness in pay for the same roles.
I think you will find job for job pay difference between men and women is the same the report is basically saying there is not enough women in high paying jobs
What is your solution to this problem though? We all know that gaps are present in all industries and all industries need to address them but rather than simply say it’s not acceptable, how or what would you do to address this issue? What ideas do you have to change the ‘status quo’ to a new more balanced level between men and women at sea? This is a great opportunity to share what you would do to improve these gaps even further.
I believe having a programme to develop and encourage women in promotion from new entry levels into lower and middle management and beyond will be a great step in finding a route to lowering the gender pay gap even further. To also address the cultural concerns will help address the issue where potentially women are less likely to be promoted because in other cultures they are not recognised as capable as men. The female forums on board are a step towards building a level of empowerment of women but unless they are encouraged through the ranks then males will still dominate a lower level of women being promoted over men. I am sure this is not intentional but is due to women culturally being seen to be not as capable as men. Our culture essentials and ships management at all levels needs to be robust enough to address cultural discrimination against women.
Hi Sheena, thanks for your comment. Alongside our work to attract diverse talent to our ships, we’re committed to better understanding and improving women’s experience on board. We share your thoughts to encourage people to get involved with our women seafarer groups/female forums, and to continue sharing feedback and ideas through our Life onboard survey and Speak Up routes.