Employment and recruitment statistics
In line with legislative requirements, we analyse our workforce and recruitment activity to identify any issues and where positive action could be taken. In line with our inclusive approach to equalities, the analysis considers race, disability, gender and age. We also collate workforce data regarding sexual orientation and religion/ belief. Approximately 60% of our employees
have declared their religion/belief and 40%
of our employees have declared their sexual orientation. A revised online recruitment method has also been launched which includes monitoring questions on these two protected characteristics.
The figures presented in this review relate to 2021/22. Workforce figures are from the March 2022 establishment. Recruitment figures cover the period April 2021-March 2022.
Senior levels are defined as salaries over £43,000 p.a. for the purposes of this analysis (Level 4 is £43,000 - £52,000 and Level 5 is any salary over £52,000). The diversity of our Senior Leadership Team is also analysed.
Apart from the overall workforce analysis covering all directorates there is further breakdown by directorates. Due to directorate sizes Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) workforce data is compared to data in the rest of the WMCA directorates (for convenience purposes these are referred to as “all directorates”, and they include all directorates besides TfWM).
Summary
The analysis shows that there is a broadly representative workforce. Similarly, the recruitment process attracts a broadly representative range of applicants. Gaps are summarised below:
-
52.4% of our employees are female. The representation of women at the two highest salary level positions is lower at 46% for salaries of 43k+ and 39.4% for salaries of 52k+. The gender split by directorate shows that there is under-representation in TfWM (especially at higher salary levels).
-
30.5% of our employees are from a minority ethnic background. While the figures are higher than the national average of 19.5% (Census 2011) it is lower than the figure of 34% in the 7 Metropolitan districts. The representation of ethnic minority employees at senior levels is lower
-
10.8% of our workforce have declared that they have a disability – the figure was higher in 2020/21
-
5.3% of our workforce is under 25 – there has been a decline in the representation of under 25s in the past two years
-
Recruitment wise, 47% of applications received in 2021/22 were from women. The percentage of successful women applicants was higher than the percentage of women applicants (at 52.2%). The percentage of women applicants at the highest salary level is lower than the percentage of women applicants overall. Female candidates were more likely to apply for lower salary roles with a steady decline in female applicants from the lowest to the highest salary level.
-
We received a high volume of applications from ethnic minority applicants. 48.8% of successful candidates were from a minority ethnic background, which is significantly higher than in previous years
-
Promotion data does not show any inequalities specifically in relation to age, disability, race and gender, while turnover data shows that ethnic minority staff were more likely to leave the organisation in 2021/22 (41.8% of people who left employment were from an ethnic minority background).
-
The WMCA’s median gender pay gap (March 2022) is 10.8 and the mean gender pay gap is 11%.
-
The WMCA’s median race pay gap is 11.1 and the mean race pay gap is 7.5
Workforce Profile
Gender
52.4% (379) of our workforce are women (March 22 figures), which is higher than 2020/21 (49.5%). The representation of women at senior (Level
4) positions is lower with 46% of employees
paid between £43,000 and £52,000 p.a. being women. Representation of women at Level 5 positions is lower, with 39.4% of employees
paid over £52,000 p.a. being women. Last year’s figures were lower for level 4 (40.1% of employees paid between £43,000 and £52,000 p.a. were women) and similar at level 5 (401% of employees paid over £52,000 p.a. were women).
Workforce Profile – Gender
The following list show the gender split by directorate which shows that “All directorates”1 are over-represented by female employees and TfWM is under-represented.
Across both directorates, there has been an increase in female employees.
Overall in %
- M - 47.6
- F - 52.4
Level 4
- M -54
- F -45
Level 5
- M - 67.1
- F - 39.4
At more senior salary levels women are under- represented in TfWM same as in 2019/20 though representation has improved in 2020/21 for salary level 4 (34% in 2020/21 compared to 27.5% in 2019/20). Representation of women at Salary Level 5 in TfWM is low at 23.2%.47.2% of employees in “all directorates” at Level 4 and 51.9% at Level 5 were female in 2020/21 which compares to 46.6% (Level 4) and 47.5% (Level 5) in 2019/20.
Gender by directorate and salary level (Female Employees)
Workforce Profile – Gender Split by Directorate and Salary Level
Overall in %
-
All directorates - 59.2
-
TFWM - 45.1
Level 4
- All directorates - 53.2
- TFWM - 36.7
Level 5
- All directorates - 49
- TFWM - 23.8
Ethnicity
30.5% of our workforce is from minority ethnic backgrounds, which is higher than the national average but lower than the West Midlands Metropolitan area average. This compares to 27.6% in 2020/212.
A further breakdown of staff by ethnicity categories is presented below (top 6 groupings based on percentage of staff):
| White British |
69.5% |
| Indian |
8.9% |
| Caribbean |
5.9% |
| White other |
4.4% |
| Pakistani |
3.7% |
| Mixed |
2.9% |
The representation of minority ethnic employees at salary level 4 positions is lower, with 25.5% of employees paid between £43,000 and £52,000 p.a. being from minority ethnic backgrounds. The representation of minority ethnic employees at the highest salary Level is 24.3%. In 2020/21 25.2% of employees at Salary Level 4 and
19.7% of employees at Salary Level 5 were from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Workforce Ethnicity
The following list show the ethnicity split by directorate which shows that “All directorates” have a higher percentage of ethnic minority employees (36.4% versus 25.1% in TfWM). TfWM is less well represented at the highest Salary Levels.
Overall in %
- White British - 69.5
- Minority ethnic staff - 30.5
Level 4
- White British - 74.5
- Minority Ethnic staff - 25.5
Level 5
- White British - 75.7
- Minority Ethnic staff - 24.3
Workforce by Ethnicity and Salary Level
All directorates
- Overall - 36.4
- Salary Level 4 - 31.2
- Salary Level 5 - 30.3
TfWM
- Overall - 25.1
- Salary Level 4 - 18.9
- Salary Level 5 - 14.5
Disability
10.8% of our workforce have declared that they have a disability. This is lower than 2020/21 when 12.6% of employees had declared that they had a disability. The representation of disabled people is slightly higher at lower salary levels but the differences are not stark. Patterns of representation are similar across directorates. employees (36.4% versus 25.1% in TfWM).
TfWM is less well represented at the highest Salary Levels.
Workforce - Disability
- Overall in % - 10.8
- Salary Level 4 - 7.9
- Salary Level 5 - 9.1
Age
Workforce representation by age is provided
in the following table. The figures are similar across both directorates, though “all directorates” recruited a slightly larger percentage of 16-25 year olds. Moreover, there has been an overall declined in the representation of younger age groups.
% by Age |
||
|
2020/21 |
2021/22 |
|
|
16-25 |
7.2 |
5.3 |
|
26-30 |
13.4 |
13 |
|
31-39 |
30.1 |
27.8 |
|
41-50 |
28.2 |
29.5 |
|
51-65 |
19.3 |
23.5 |
|
66+ |
0.81 |
|
|
No age given |
0.90 |
Table 1: Workforce representation by age
Representation of different age groups at senior levels is as follows:
% Age |
Level 4 |
Level 5 |
| 16-25 | 1 | 0 |
| 26-30 |
10.7 |
1.5 |
|
31-35 |
12.6 |
7.3 |
|
36-40 |
25.2 |
18.2 |
| 41-50 | 32 |
44.5 |
| 51-65 |
17.5 |
27.7 |
|
66+ |
0 |
0 |
|
No age given |
1 |
0.7 |
Table 2: Workforce representation by age and salary
The 16-25 and 26-30 age groups are not as well represented in Level 4 and 5 positions, but this is most likely linked to the seniority of the posts.
Senior Leadership representation
62.5% of our Senior Leadership Team are female, 37.5% are from a minority ethnic background (12.5% from a South Asian background, 12.5% Irish and 12.5% White Other). Nobody has declared a disability. Age wise, 25% are in the 36-40 range, 37.5% in the 41-50 age range and 37.5% are in the 51 to 65 range.
Recruitment3
There were 132 successful candidates in 2021/22. A total of 2116 applications were received.
Gender
47% of applications received were from women. The percentage of shortlisted women applicants is 49.1% and the percentage of successful women applicants is 52.2%. The percentage of women applicants in 2020/21 was lower at 42.8% as was the percentage of successful women applicants at 41.8%.
The percentage of women applicants at salary Level 4 is lower than the percentage of women applicants overall at 43.7%. The percentage of shortlisted and successful women applicants at Level 4 is 44.5% and 30.4%, which shows that there was a significant drop at appointment stage. The percentage of women applicants in Level 5 is also lower than the percentage of women applicants overall at 33.3% though there is an increase at shortlisting and appointment stages, at 36.1% and 61.5% respectively. The percentage of successful female candidates in 2020/21 were significantly higher for Level 4 (at 53.3%) despite lower numbers of women applicants. The percentages of successful women applicants at Level 5 was significantly lower in 2020/21 at 25%.
Recruitment - Applicants by Gender and Salary Level
Applicants
- Male - 47
- Female - 53
Level 4
- Male - 43
- Female - 56.3
Level 5
- Male - 33.3
- Female - 66.7
Graph 7: Recruitment – Applicants by Gender and Salary Level
Recruitment - Applicants by Gender and Salary Level
Overall shortlisted
- Male - 49.1
- Female - 50.9
Level 4
- Male - 43
- Female 56.3
Level 5
- Male -33.3
- Female 66.7
Recruitment - Applicants by Gender and Salary Level Overall shortlisted
Overall shortlisted
- Male - 49.1
- Female - 50.9
Level 4
- Male - 44.5
- Female - 55.3
Level 5
- Male - 36.1
- Female - 66.9
Graph 8: Recruitment – Shortlisted by Gender and Salary Level
Recruitment - Applicants by Gender and Salary Level
Overall shortlisted
- Male - 49.1
- Female - 50.9
Level 4
- Male - 44.5
- Female - 55.3
Graph 9: Recruitment – Shortlisted by Gender and Salary Level
Similar to 2020/21, in 21/22 female candidates were more likely to apply for lower salary roles with a steady decline in female applicants from the lowest to the highest salary level. Female candidates were more likely to be successful across most levels with the exception of the second highest salary level (Level 4) where female candidates were less likely to be successful than male candidates.
Ethnicity
65.9% of the applications received in 2021/22 were from people from minority ethnic backgrounds which compares to 53.2% in 2020/21. This figure is higher than the West Midlands average. The percentage of shortlisted and successful minority ethnic applicantsis 53.3% and 51.2% which is lower than the percentage of minority ethnic applicants but higher than the regional average. The percentages of successful applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds was significantly lower in 2020/21 at 30.3% despite high levels of applications.
Recruitment - Ethnicity
Applications
- White British - 34.1
- Minority ethnic staff - 65.9
Shortlisted
- White British - 53.3
Successful
- White British - 51.2
- Minority ethnic staff - 48.8
Graph 10: Recruitment by Ethnicity
The percentage of minority ethnic applicants
at senior Level 5 positions is slightly lower than the percentage of minority ethnic applicants at 52.4%. This pattern was also evident in previous years, including in 202021. The percentage of shortlisted and successful minority ethnic candidates for level 5 positions is lower than the percentage of applicants for these positions as shown in graphs 11 and 12 (41.9% shortlisted and 40% successful). Generally, across all salary levels shortlisted minority ethnic candidates were as likely to be appointed as White British candidates.
Recruitment - Ethnicity Salary Level 4
Applications
- White British - 37.7
- Minority ethnic staff - 62.3
Shortlisted
- White British - 37.7
- Minority ethnic staff - 62.3
Successful
- White British - 50.1
- Minority ethnic staff - 49.9
Recruitment - Ethnicity Salary Level 5
Applications
- White British - 37.7
- Minority ethnic staff - 62.3
Shortlisted
- White British - 51.3
- Minority ethnic staff - 48.7
Successful
- White British - 50.1
- Minority ethnic staff - 49.9
Graph 12 Recruitment by Ethnicity – Salary Level 5
Disability
5.7% of the applications received in 2021/22 were from people who have declared that they have a disability which compares to 5.8% in 2020/21. The percentage of shortlisted and successful disabled candidates is 8.2% and 6.1%. The figures were higher in 2020/21 (at 8.9% for shortlisted and 7.3% for successful candidates). The percentage of shortlisted applicants were lower for Level 5 positions and there were no successful appointments at that level, same as in 2020/21.
Age
Recruitment in relation to age is shown below.
Age 2021/22 in % |
Applicants |
Shortlisted |
Successful |
|
16-24 |
15.2 |
7.8 |
4.5 |
|
25.29 |
24.8 |
17.2 |
15.2 |
|
30-39 |
29.7 |
27.7 |
28 |
|
40-49 |
17.6 |
22.4 |
19.7 |
|
50-64 |
10.5 |
8.9 |
18.2 |
|
65+ |
0.2 | 0 | 0 |
|
No age given |
2 |
6 | 14.4 |
Table 3: Recruitment by age
The table shows that younger age groups (the 16-29 categories) were less likely to be shortlisted for WMCA roles, while the age category most likely to be shortlisted and successful in securing a role is the 50-64 group.
Promotion
There were 29 promotions in 2021/22, same as in 2020/21
Gender
51.7% of promotions in 2021/22 were women. This compares to 31% female promotions in 2020/21
Ethnicity
25.9% of employees promoted were from an ethnic minority background which compares to 13.8% in 2020/21
Disability
0.3% disabled employees were promoted in 2021/22 compared to 3.5% in 2020/21
Age
Promotion by age group can be seen in the following table:
% by Age |
2021/22 |
| 16-25 | 0 |
|
26-30 |
27.6 |
|
31-40 |
41.4 |
|
41-50 |
13.8 |
|
51-65 |
17.2 |
|
66+ |
0 |
|
No age given |
0 |