Hachette UK publishes annual ethnicity and gender pay gap reports

20 March 2025 – Hachette UK has published its latest Ethnicity Pay Gap and Gender Pay Gap reports as part of its ongoing commitment to transparency under ‘Changing the Story’, their central strategic pillar focussed on inclusion and diversity across people, publishing and partnerships. In order to give an accurate picture of the whole company, Hachette UK reports on three entities: Hachette UK Ltd, which comprises staff in publishing roles; Hachette Distribution; and the Whole Group, which includes those in Hachette UK Ltd plus everyone in Hachette Distribution.

Kim Kidd, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager at Hachette UK, commented:   

“We are continuing to make progress in closing our gender pay gap, with reductions in both the mean and median figures across the Whole Group. At Hachette UK Ltd, while the mean gender pay gap reduced, the median increased slightly. However, we’ve seen increased representation of women in senior roles, particularly in the upper middle quartile, and our mean bonus pay gap has improved in favour of women across both the Whole Group and our publishing division. 

We’re also encouraged by the increased representation of Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage, and Ethnically Diverse colleagues across the Group and within Hachette UK Ltd. Although our overall ethnicity pay gap has widened this year, there has been positive movement in the right direction for the mean and median bonus pay gaps at Hachette UK Ltd.

Progress isn’t always linear, and we understand that fluctuations are part of the journey as we work towards our goals. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential to our mission at Hachette UK, and addressing these gaps requires sustained and targeted efforts. We remain fully committed to transparency, action, and accountability in driving meaningful, long-term change, as part of our ongoing commitment to Changing the Story.”

Ethnicity Pay Gap:

This is the sixth year in which Hachette UK has voluntarily shared its ethnicity pay gap. The latest report shows representation across the Whole Group has improved, with an increase in Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Ethnically Diverse employees in three out of the four pay quartiles.

Within Hachette UK, the median and mean ethnicity bonus pay gap figures have improved significantly; the mean gap from 63.6% to 47.1% and the median gap from 19.4% to 13.1%. Across the Whole Group, the mean also improved, while the median saw a slight increase.  

19.2% of recent new hires identify as Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Ethnically Diverse. Within this group, 19.5% are in the upper middle quartile and 4.9% in the top quartile, with the remainder in the lower quartiles. The overall number of Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Ethnically Diverse employees in the top two pay quartiles has remained unchanged since 2023.

In line with the Publishers Association Inclusivity Action Plan, Hachette UK’s target for increasing representation for Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage and Ethnically Diverse employees within the business is 18.3% by 2026. Representation currently sits at 15.2%, rising from 14.7% in 2024’s report, and showing progress from 10.4% when the report was first published in 2019.

Gender Pay Gap:

The representation of women in senior roles at Hachette UK Ltd continues to improve. Currently, women make up 64.5% of the upper quartile and 76.4% of the upper middle quartile, compared to 56.6% and 69.8% in 2017. Although there has been a slight decrease (from 66%) in the upper quartile from the previous year, the overall trend shows positive progress in increasing the representation of women in leadership roles.

There is an increase in the number of male employees in the lower quartile both in the Whole Group and Hachette UK Ltd, moving from 29.6% to 32.9% and 15.6% to 16.8%, respectively. Overall, this shift has had a positive impact on the mean gender pay gap figures.

For the Whole Group, the mean and median figures now stand at 15.1% and 5.6%, compared to last year’s figures of 17.0% and 8.0% respectively. For Hachette UK Ltd, the mean pay gap has reduced to 22.2%, while the median shows a slight increase from 17.0% to 17.3%

The mean bonus pay gap has narrowed in favour of women across both the Whole Group and Hachette UK Ltd, improving from 55.8% to 46.6% and 62.4% to 49.9% respectively. However, the median bonus pay gap has increased, with the Whole Group shifting from -2.1% to 1.7% and Hachette UK Ltd rising from 14.8% to 22.1%.

Live Action Plans:

Hachette UK continues to implement and iterate its action plans to improve representation in the business and ultimately remove the ethnicity and gender pay gaps.

Georgina Schofield, Interim HR Director, Hachette UK said: “Working in collaboration with our brilliant staff networks, Thrive and the Gender Balance Network, we have remained committed to taking actions that directly impact recruitment, retention, and promotion. In 2024, we expanded Hachette UK’s traineeship programme in collaboration with Creative Access, Curtis Brown, and Waterstones to include individuals looking for a career change. We continue to offer a virtual work experience programme, which is now available on demand, and over 3,500 students have taken part to date. Last year, we enhanced our paid family leave policies and introduced parental coaching to better support parents during their transition back to work. To deepen our understanding of the challenges faced by our diverse workforce, we have carried out listening circles with our ethnically diverse employees and allies, enabling us to better understand the barriers they encounter. We have introduced comprehensive training and support for recruiting managers, including mandatory workshops that provide them with the knowledge and tools to make informed decisions and implement inclusive hiring practices effectively. This approach ensures that hiring managers are better equipped to attract, hire, and retain a diverse workforce.  We have also mandated a suite of core management training to support and encourage best practice management, improve the employee experience, and further underpin our commitment to building a diverse workforce.”

Hachette UK’s National Offices play a key role in this and continue to grow; there are now over 140 staff in the five offices outside London. 

In 2024, for the fifth year running, Hachette UK was named one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality – the most widely respected award for employers committed to achieving gender equality. 

The full versions of the Ethnicity Pay Gap Report and the Gender Pay Gap Report are available on the Hachette UK website.