Emphasis on inclusion and diversity helps keep gender pay gap figure below national average

·         At 7.1 percent, our gender pay gap figure remains below the UK national average

·         Proportion of female science and technology graduate recruits exceeds national average

·         Challenges remain, but we are committed to making progress.

Leatherhead, Surrey – ExxonMobil today published its 2019 UK gender pay gap figures¹ on behalf of its two UK affiliates. The report shows a combined median gender pay gap of 7.1 percent for ExxonMobil companies in the UK, which compares favourably with the 2019 UK national average of 17.3 percent².

While the mean gender pay gap figure has decreased, the median gap has risen slightly. Both now stand at 7.1 percent – the movement in the figures compared with 2018 reflects demographic changes in the company population and the recruitment of more females at entry level.

In 2019, 27 percent of our graduate recruits in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in the UK were women, which is slightly higher than the proportion of women graduating in these subjects nationwide (up to 26 percent)³.

Mike Cooper, Chairman of Esso UK and Lead Country Manager for ExxonMobil in the UK, said: “We recognise that closing our gender pay gap will take time, which is why we have adopted a long-term, strategic approach to achieving gender balance. ExxonMobil is working hard to encourage females to study STEM subjects at school and in higher education, to recruit talented females, to retain them in their early and mid-career stages, and to develop them into future company leaders.”

In 2019, a higher proportion of women (21 percent) than men (19 percent) in our UK workforce were promoted into leadership positions. A total of 29 percent of our female workforce (17 percent overall) in the UK are in management positions.

Last year we also introduced an enhanced shared parental leave policy and improved workplace flexibility to support women in their career development and to help all employees to balance work and personal commitments.

“Our gender pay figures for 2019 reflect our long-held commitment to equality,” added Mike Cooper.

“Although our company-wide figure is good, we know we must do more to narrow the gender pay gap.

The data is driven by a number of variables that may change from year to year. Historically our industry was dominated by males, so we still have a higher proportion of males to females. We know that our performance is enhanced by supporting women to develop their skills and build a long-term career with us.

Changing the statistics is going to take time, but we continue to make progress and to take action to ensure a more equal representation of women at all levels of the company in future.

We are committed to long-term progress in all areas of inclusion and diversity and will continue to champion this issue within our company and within our sector.”

To address the challenge of gender pay disparity ExxonMobil is focusing on the following actions:

·      Seeking to recruit more women at all levels of the business, including graduates and apprentices

·      Seeking to retain and develop women in early and mid-career stages

·      Developing female talent to leadership and senior technical positions

·      Offering enhanced parental leave and workplace flexibility to enable employees to balance work and personal commitments

·      Increasing focus on inclusion and diversity to support employees throughout their careers, and

·      Supporting STEM education programmes, including for girls and young women, in communities local to the company’s UK sites, to build grassroots science and technology capability.

ENDS

Further enquiries: 

• ExxonMobil UK press office: phone: 01372 222 261

• Email: uk.mediarelations@exxonmobil.com

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is one of the largest refiners and marketers of petroleum products, and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world. For more information, visit www.exxonmobil.com or our UK site www.exxonmobil.co.uk.

Notes for editors:

·         This report has been produced in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap) Regulations 2017, and the guidance on managing gender pay developed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Service (Acas).

·         The information combines the pay data for the two UK companies covered by the regulations: Esso Petroleum Company, Limited and ExxonMobil Chemical Limited.

·         The report shows that the companies’ combined 7.1 percent median gender pay gap in 2019 remains comparatively low compared with the UK average (17.3 percent), but is up from 3.9 percent in 2018. The increase is due to demographic changes in the company population, including success in recruiting proportionately more females at graduate entry level alongside the departure of proportionately more higher-earning women than men during the year.

·         Women represent 17 percent of ExxonMobil’s total UK workforce.

·         In 2019, there was a change in the median bonus gap from 3.1 percent in 2018 to -1.7 percent. Of those that received a bonus in 2019, 17.9 percent were women compared to 16.2 percent of men.

·         ExxonMobil supports the work of voluntary, employee-led networks that work to foster a culture of inclusivity across the breadth of its business.

·         For more information please visit https://www.exxonmobil.co.uk

1 Published in our UK inclusion and diversity report 2020.

2 Office for National Statistics, ‘Gender Pay Gap in the UK: 2018’, Oct. 25, 2018.