Out Of Home Companies Shine Among Media Owners In WGEA Gender Pay Gap Reporting

Any woman in the industry who doesn’t work in OOH might be inspired to reconsider her career choices this morning, with women out-earning men at oOh!media, QMS and JCDecaux Australia.

In case you missed it, in a landmark move the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has today published the gender pay gap figures for every company in Australia with more than 100 employees.

The Agency calculated the median gender pay gap using the difference in the median remuneration of men and women, divided by men’s median remuneration. This difference is reflected as a percentage or a dollar figure. It also standardised every employee’s role to be a full-time equivalent to give a representative picture among casual and part-time workers.

That calculation, which is based on numbers provided by the employer, includes all employees except for the CEO/equivalent, non-binary employees, and any employee with a salary listed as zero.

Employers had to complete an online questionnaire related to policies, strategies, and actions on gender equality and two Excel worksheets designed to collect information about workforce composition; salaries and remuneration; and employee appointments, promotions, resignations, and parental leave.

The industry benchmark is as follows:

Internet Publishing and Broadcasting  

Average base salary: 11.5 per cent

Average Total remuneration: 10.2 per cent

Total workforce split: 51 per cent women and 49 per cent men

Upper quartile: 55 per cent men and 45 per cent women.

Lower quartile: 63 per cent women and 37 per cent men. 

CEOs in the industry: 83 per cent men and 17 per cent women

Heads of business: 67 per cent women and 33 per cent women. 

But how do the figures compare across the different companies? Check the numbers out for yourself below.

Should you wish to see how the different agency holding groups got on, you can read our coverage here.

Broadcasters

Seven West Media

The median base salary gender pay gap at Seven West Media is 10.8 per cent; the median total remuneration pay gap is 13.8 per cent. 

The total workforce is made up of 52 per cent men and 48 per cent women. However, things are quite different across the different quartiles. At the lower quartile, there is a gender split of 60 per cent women and 40 per cent men and at the upper quartile, there are 48 per cent women and 52 per cent men. 

In management, 73 per cent of key management personnel were men and 27 per cent were women. A total of 71 per cent of executives and general managers were men compared to 29 per cent who were women. 

Nine Entertainment

Nine had a median base salary gender pay gap of 13.4 per cent and a total remuneration gender pay gap of 10.1 per cent. 

The total gender composition was 54 per cent men and 46 per cent women. At Nine, 100 per cent of the heads of business were men. There was a 50/50 split for key management personnel. 

For executive and general managers, there was a split of 39 per cent women and 61 per cent men. 

Clerical and administrative workers were 77 per cent women and 23 per cent men. 

Comment: Our gender pay gap is primarily structural, with lower representation of females in senior positions in the business. In our middle to lower quartile roles, we have larger female representation. Our goal is to improve representation at all levels and reduce the structural pay gap. Nine has committed over time to increase this representation and has seen improvement in the median remuneration gap, from 14 per cebnt in 2020 to 10.1 per cent in 2023

Network 10 

Network 10 faired better than the other FTA networks, it had a pay gap of 7.5 per cent and median total remuneration gap of 5.5 per cent. 

The split for the gender workforce was 50/50. For the upper quartile, there was a split of 54 per cent men and 46 per cent women. At the lower quartile, there was 57 per cent women and 43 per cent men. 

Foxtel

At Foxtel, there is a 8.4 per cent median base salary pay gap and a total remuneration gender pay gap of 9.8 per cent. 

The total workforce is made up of 58 per cent men and 42 per cent women. In the lower quartile, it was  52 per cent women and 48 per cent men. Moving to the upper quartile there was a split of 67 per cent men and 33 per cent women. 

Comment: “The Foxtel Group has been taking deliberate action on gender pay for many years, long before the Government announced that gaps would be publicly disclosed. Our efforts have resulted in a gap less than the industry and national average.  It remains a priority for us to close this gap and we have proactive recruitment and growth strategies in place to address.”

OUT OF HOME

oOh!media

Things were the other way around at oOh!media with women being paid more than men. Led by Cathy O’Connor the company had a median base salary gender pay gap of -9.9 per cent (meaning on average women get paid 9.9 per cent more). There was a median total remuneration gender pay gap of -15.7 per cent. 

Across the entire company, there was a composition of 48 per cent women and 52 per cent men. 

In the upper quartile, there was a split of 50 per cent women and 50 per cent men. In the lower quartile, there were 42 per cent women and 58 per cent men. 

Comment: oOh! chief executive officer Cathy O’Connor, one of just 22 per cent female CEOs in Australia according to WGEA analysis, said: “oOh! strives to maintain an industry-leading position in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Beyond this result, we remain focussed on driving positive change for women, which will continue to support our position on gender pay equity.” 

QMS 

Women also got paid more at QMS with the gap being even higher than oOh!media. There was a median base salary gender pay gap of -20.9 per cent, and a median total remuneration gender pay gap of -37.2 per cent — meaning that men get paid significantly less than women.

For the total workforce, there was a split of 42 per cent women and 58 per cent men. 

In the upper quartile, there were 51 per cent men and 49 per cent women. In the lower quartile, there were 69 per cent men and 31 per cent women. 

For the heads of business, there were 80 per cent men and 20 per cent women. This same split was shared across general and senior managers. 

JCDecaux

Keeping to the trend of women being paid more in OOH, there was a -1.8 per cent pay gap at JCDecaux Australia. The median total remuneration gender pay gap was -7.3 per cent. 

The total workforce was made up of 55 per cent men and 45 per cent women. 

In the lower quartile, this was made up of 59 per cent men and 41 per cent women. 

For the workforce composition, there was a split of 67 per cent men and 33 per cent women for the heads of business. 

For senior managers, there was a split of 56 per cent men and 44 per cent women.

Comment: JCDecaux is pleased to report a median gender pay gap lower than the overarching and industry averages for 2023. We have a range of measures in place working towards achieving gender equality and equity, and remain committed maintaining these positive trends. Our business has also been particularly focused on its pay equity gap (the difference between like-for-like roles for men and women) which is comparable. JCDecaux is committed to supporting women to reach their full potential and thrive in our business, and will use the WGEA data to help understand where and why pay gaps exist to continue to improve our position.

Audio

ARN

ARN had a median base salary gender pay gap of 10.2 per cent and a total remuneration gender pay gap of 12 per cent. 

The total workforce was made up of 54 per cent women and 46 per cent men. The upper quartile was made up of 53 per cent men and 47 per cent women. Meanwhile, the lower quartile was 68 per cent women and 32 per cent men. 

At a key management level, there was a split of 22 per cent women and 78 per cent men. At the executive and general management level, there was a split of 74 per cent men and 26 per cent women. 

Southern Cross Austereo

SCA had a median base salary gender pay gap of 5.6 per cent with a gap of 5.9 per cent for total remuneration. 

There is a total gender split of 53 per cent women and 47 per cent men. In the upper quartile, there is a split of 47 per cent women and 53 per cent men. In the lower quartile, there is 57 per cent women and 43 per cent men. 

For heads of business, this was made up of 64 per cent men and 36 per cent women. Key management personnel was 58 per cent men and 42 per cent women. 

Senior managers were made up of  60 per cent women and 40 per cent men. 

Comment: “SCA is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of gender, is valued and compensated fairly for their contributions.

 SCA is proud of its gender pay gap improvement, particularly in comparison to the media industry. While there is still room for improvement, SCA attributes its results to the work that has been done internally to implement fair and equitable compensation practices to actively reduce its gender pay gap.

Nova

At Nova, there was a median base salary gender pay gap of 9.0 per cent, and a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 6.0 per cent. 

The total workforce split was skewed towards women, with a split of 58 per cent women and 42 per cent men. 

In the upper quartile, there was a split of 51 per cent women and 49 per cent men. 

In the lower quartile, there was a split of 66 per cent women and 34 per cent men. 

Women faired well in key management personnel roles at Nova. There was a split of 56 per cent women and 44 per cent men. 

For senior managers, there were 61 per cent women and 39 per cent men. 

NOVA Entertainment CEO Peter Charlton said: “Gender equality is a core pillar of NOVA Entertainment’s ESG strategy. We welcome the publishing of gender pay data as a catalyst for change as we strive towards pay parity, both in our business and in society as a whole. Whilst it is encouraging to see that NOVA continues to improve, both in participation and in reducing pay inequality, and that we perform better than our industry’s benchmarks, as long as there is a gap there is work to be done. NOVA Entertainment is committed to creating an environment of fairness and inclusivity for all, including equal representation and remuneration across our business.”

Spotify

Things were less good over at Spotify where there was a median base salary gender pay gap of 23.5 per cent. There was a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 26.3 per cent. 

There was a total split of 55 per cent women and 45 per cent men. At the upper end of the spectrum, there was a split of 38 per cent women and 63 per cent men. 

At the lower quartile, there was a split of 80 per cent women and 20 per cent men. 

For key management personnel, there were 38 per cent women and 63 per cent men. Executives and general managers were 46 per cent women and 54 per cent men.