Bloomberg pays women 20 percent less than men in the UK

Bloomberg LP pays its United Kingdom female employees, on average, 20 percent less than its male employees, according to data filed with the government.

The data shows that the average female employee bonus is 48.4 percent lower than the average male employee bonus.

The data includes both editorial and non-editorial employees. Ninety percent of male and female employees received a bonus.

Female employees at Bloomberg in the United Kingdom are just 20.3 percent of the top quartile of highest-paid workers.

Bloomberg’s European headquarters is based in London and has approximately 4,000 employees. It opened a new office last year, spending more than $1 billion on the construction.

UK employers with more than 250 staff have to report their gender pay gap by April 4 to the Government Equalities Office.

In comparison, rival Thomson Reuters pays female employees, on average 16.95 percent less than male employees and pays them less than half of the bonuses that male employees receive.

We’ve asked Bloomberg for a comment on the data and will add that when it is received.

Elizabeth Mazzeo, chief operating officer at Bloomberg LP, issued a letter to the staff that stated:

The key driver for Bloomberg’s difference in average pay (hourly pay rate) across all U.K. roles is the gender composition in certain higher paying roles at Bloomberg where the company recruits people with financial industry knowledge and from industries like technology that have an underrepresentation of women. For example, the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics reports that, across the U.K., only 10% of programmers and software development professionals and only 29% of financial institution managers are women.

Bloomberg has undertaken a variety of initiatives to provide more educational and training opportunities to women, particularly in industries like technology and finance where women are underrepresented. Bloomberg supports organizations that help increase women’s participation in STEM and finance fields, including the National Center for Women & Information Technology, Girls Who Code, Girls Who Invest, 100 Women in Finance, the Anita Borg Institute and the Young Women’s Leadership Network. Bloomberg also supports several gender focused initiatives for women and girls in the U.K. including WomENcourage, IT Not Just for Boys, U.K. Lovelace Colloquium and WeAreTechWomen. The women that participate in many of these programs are eligible for internships, scholarships, and special events hosted by Bloomberg.

These efforts, while far from complete, have helped improve Bloomberg’s gender composition. For example, over the past two years, female representation in Bloomberg’s Engineering department has grown by 16% globally.