Gender Pay Gap Report 2024

This report sets out the gender pay gap statistics for Kocho Group Ltd in relation to the reporting year of 2024.

Introduction

At Kocho, we are a leading Microsoft specialist in identity, cybersecurity, and cloud solutions, connecting users and devices securely to Microsoft cloud services.

We believe greatness lies in everyone, and we offer a unique blend of professional, and managed IT solutions, to help ambitious companies realise their full potential.

We were established in 2001 and in the last 24 years we have grown as a business with now 263 people employed in the UK.

This gender pay gap report is the second report we have published, which addresses our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Under the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017, Kocho Group Ltd is legally required to publish, on an annual basis, specified information relating to their gender pay gap.

The following information has been calculated in accordance with the Regulations and is legally compliant.

Our Commitment to Equality and Diversity

Kocho is a people business, without our people we wouldn’t be who we are today, which is why we want to: Do what’s right; Think greater and we know that we are Better together.

We encourage equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We actively support and champion these values. They represent variety of thought, collaboration and the importance of learning; making our workplace a happier, better place and undoubtedly makes sound business sense.

Kocho is committed to promoting these values and avoiding discrimination in all aspects of employment within the organisation from recruitment all the way through the employees life cycle.

Gender Pay Gap Results

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage. The gap is calculated across the entire workforce of an organisation.

The gender pay gap has many contributing factors which will differ from organisation to organisation, across sectors and across geographical locations. These factors may or may not be unlawful or discriminatory, guided by society or cultural aspects, or as a result of internal organisational practices.

It is crucial to our understanding of gender pay disparity to recognise that the gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay is where there is a discriminatory pay difference between men and women who carry out the same job, jobs rated as equivalent or work of equal value. The existence of a gender pay gap does not automatically give rise to any discrimination or equal pay matters.

Mean gender pay gap

The mean pay shows the difference between the average hourly pay of men and women. Based on the mean hourly rate of pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, the mean gender pay gap in Kocho is 7.4%. This is a 7% reduction from the previous year.

Median gender pay gap

The median pay shows the difference between the midpoint in the ranges of hourly pay of men and women. Based on the median hourly rate of pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our median gender pay gap is 15.5%. This is a 3.6% increase from last year.

Findings

These results indicate that Kocho has reduced the average salary gap by a third since last year, and whilst a mean gap of 7.4% is well below the industry average, Kocho will continue to strive to reduce this gap further.

The median gap is also considered low in the industry, however we are disappointed to see a slight increase from the previous year, and attribute this to more male account managers hitting their targets and there are more men in chargeable technical roles, which demand higher salaries. We will continue to address this disbalance to ensure consistency across the organisation.

Gender bonus gap results

Mean gender bonus gap

The mean pay shows the difference between the average bonus pay of men and women. Based on the mean bonus pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our mean gender bonus gap is 4.9%, which is a significant decrease from last year’s of 50.63% .

Median gender bonus gap

The median pay shows the difference between the midpoint in the ranges of bonus pay of men and women. Based on the median bonus pay for male and female employees in the relevant pay period, our median gender bonus gap is 37.26%, which is a marginal increase of 0.62%

Findings

These results show that we have made positive inroads in increasing the amount of bonus’ women receive which has resulted in a gap reduction of 45.73%. This has been achieved by the bonus amount for females increasing at the nearly double the rate of males (Male average bonus increase at 143% vs 275% for Females).

To compound this further, we have also seen an increase in the volume of employees being paid bonuses, again the female increase is significantly greater than that for males (male increase in number of bonuses paid at 141% vs 243% for females)

Whilst the median has increased by less than one percentage point, the overall percentage difference is higher than what Kocho would like to see. This gap indicates there is a cluster of higher bonus being paid to men than women, due to the majority of the roles in our Technical space being taken by men. Whilst we are looking to address this skew through our recruitment strategies, we have a relatively low turnover within these departments and therefore will not be a immediate solution.

Bonus pay

The proportions of male and female employees who received bonus pay during the relevant pay period are as follows (percentages are rounded to one decimal place):

Male employees: 72%
Female employees: 75%

Salary Pay Quartiles

The following table separates our entire workforce into four equal quartiles based on the salaries that are paid to these employees. These quartiles are then further broken down into the number and proportion, expressed as a percentage, of male and female employees in each quartile.

A table showing salary pay gap report for 2024.

At Kocho we are committed to treating our colleagues equitably and this includes being fair with how we pay our female colleagues.

This is the second year we are publishing data, therefore we are able to see a comparison of the 2023 and 2024 data. We are pleased to report that we have made significant improvements in closing the mean pay and mean bonus gap, and are committed to continue to ensure fair pay within Kocho.

It is important to note that we do not pay people differently based on their gender at Kocho, any pay gap is caused by Kocho having fewer females in leadership roles (where salaries are higher) and more women represented in our lower paid roles. Our aim is to create a diverse and proportional team.

Our focus on improving representation will remain, as we know this is one of the key drivers causing the gender pay gap. We know there is still much to do in this space and will hold ourselves to account and continue to strive for gender equality.

Looking Ahead

We are committed to reducing, and subsequently closing, any identified gender pay disparity.

Since our first report in 2023 we have addressed a number of the outliers and continue to have a proactive approach to reduce pay inequality. We have introduced a transparent career framework, where we encourage internal promotions and we are looking at benchmarking all roles against the industry in the next 12 months, ensuring that we continue to pay fairly and equally. In addition, we are looking at our board structure, and that of senior leadership team, to address any areas where there are gender pay gaps.

As our workforce evolves, we continue to show progress in increasing our female representation and are committed to continued progress.