Ethnicity pay gap reports

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. In order to achieve this, we need to ensure that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive.

We are striving to create a workplace in which all people feel included and valued. As part of our journey towards greater equality, diversity and inclusion and we are voluntarily reporting our ethnicity pay gap for the third year.

Publishing is part of our commitment to making a difference and we think it’s important to demonstrate transparency in sharing the data. We know we have much to do to make change and are not complacent when faced with this data. Tackling this gap is at the heart of our Workforce Diversity Action plan.

The ethnicity pay gap explained

At the Natural History Museum, we pay people the same rate for doing the same job. We have a clear job evaluation process and grading system which allows for roles to be paid equally.

The ethnicity pay gap shows the difference in the average hourly rate of pay between Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and White employees, expressed as a percentage of average White staff earnings. This is calculated using the same calculation methodology as for gender pay gap reporting. 

Organisationally, we use the term 'marginalised ethnicities' when we talk about our people. We are mindful of the different trajectories and lived experiences of specific ethnic groups and want to avoid complacency in thinking of all individuals from marginalised ethnic groups as a collective but for this report we are unable to disaggregate the data into specific groups due to sample size.

To ensure the data is consistent for benchmarking purposes we are using the term BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) but are aware of all the limitations of this term. Ethnic minorities includes White minorities such as Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller groups. 

Read more about our pay gap report from 2022 below, or download the report as a PDF.

Reporting our ethnicity pay gap

The below information is based on data from our latest pay gap report in April 2023.

Pay difference

The mean pay difference in hourly pay between Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and White employees is 13% (down from 14% in 2022)

The median pay difference in hourly pay between Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and White employees is 11% (down from 12.5% in 2022) 

No bonuses were paid in 2022/23

Percentage of staff

We examined the percentage of Museum staff from a BAME background and split the data by hourly rates in four equal groups, or quartiles. Quartile 1 shows the lowest hourly rates and quartile 4 shows the highest.

Quartile 1 breakdown:

24.2% BAME

70.8% White

5% unknown

Quartile 2 breakdown:

10.6% BAME

85.7% White

3.7% unknown

Quartile 3 breakdown:

14.2% BAME

83.4% White

2.4% unknown

Quartile 4 breakdown:

9.5% BAME

88% White

2.5% unknown

We can see in the data that there is a larger percentage of staff from BAME backgrounds in the more junior rather than senior roles. Our ethnicity pay gap is driven by this lack of representation.. 

The ethnicity split across the whole Museum in April 2023 was 15% BAME, 81.5% White and 3.5% undeclared.

We are a local, national and international organisation so for benchmarking purposes this is in comparison to a London population that is 46% BAME (14% Black, 21% Asian, 6% Mixed and 6% other) and 54% White, and an overall UK population that is 19% BAME (4.2% Black, 9.6% Asian, 3% Mixed, 2.2% Other) and 81% White.

Taking action to reduce our ethnicity pay gap

Our Diversity and Inclusion Workforce action plan has eight key objectives which includes a focus on pathways to employment, attraction, selection, induction and leadership. Since our first ethnicity pay gap report we have implemented the following:

• We have changed our recruitment processes to mitigate unconscious bias and have removed names from application forms. We have upskilled managers to conduct competency based interviews. As a result, we have seen a  greater percentage of BAME applicants shortlisted and subsequently appointed at all levels of the organisation.
• We have set internal only recruitment targets. As staff from BAME backgrounds make up 24% of our overall roles in our lowest pay quartile, we have been concentrating on filling vacancies through internal recruitment wherever possible. This is not only to invest in our own staff but to give people more opportunity to develop their careers in more senior roles within the Museum. Last year over 50% of all our vacancies were filled by internal candidates.  
• We have set overall recruitment targets, based on the percentage of hires, which aim to tackle the overall lack of representation of staff from BAME backgrounds within the Museum. Last year 22.7% of roles were filled by BAME candidates. We have also demanded of any recruitment companies that we work with, that there must be reasonable representation in all long and short lists presented to the Museum.
• We have reviewed progression and career pathways and linked this with our Learning and Development plan to ensure we are upskilling staff and enabling them to move up in the organisation.
• We have trained our people managers in coaching techniques so they can have effective career conversations and help their staff achieve their ambitions.
• We have trained our managers in Inclusive Leadership and everyone in the organisation has been on mandatory D&I training. We have also relaunched our Behaviour and Respect policy and rolled this out across the organisation
• We launched staff networks and a workforce D&I employee engagement survey.
• We are working on a funded project to encourage more students from BAME backgrounds to pursue careers in Science, where there is less diversity than in other parts of the Museum.

We know we have to do more to redress the imbalance we see in our workforce today. As we move forward we will continue to embed and evolve all these areas of work. Other new initiatives include an Aspiring Managers programme to upskill staff to be able to move up more quickly; review of our assessment processes to ensure best practice; an ongoing seminar programme of managing inclusively and scoping a positive action Talent project.  

We also will continue the focus on our culture and working environment. We need to create inclusive cultures where people thrive. A key intervention this year is mandatory Tackling Bias in the workplace training run by external experts. Ongoing education underpins the activities in our action plan to build the inclusive environment and in which the diversity and dignity of every individual is valued and recognised.