WPP publishes UK Gender Pay Gap Report for 2024

WPP today publishes its UK gender pay gap report for 2024.

In addition to statutory reporting for all legal entities with over 250 people, WPP publishes consolidated data for its total UK workforce. This helps provide a more representative picture and ensures a more accurate like-for-like comparison by removing variations in entities that fall within the reporting criteria.

WPP’s overall mean pay gap reduced from 21.2% in 2023 to 20.5% in 2024, continuing a year-on-year trend over the last five years. The median pay gap also decreased, from 18.1% in 2023 to 17.8% in 2024. This was driven by an increase in the percentage of women in the two upper pay quartiles.

Our mean bonus gap saw a slight decrease, while our median bonus gap widened. This reflects the difference in the proportion of women and men receiving a bonus for 2023 (included in 2024 figures). Overall, bonuses were awarded to fewer people and were concentrated at the most senior levels where male representation is higher.

In 20241, women represented 54% of senior managers and 42% of executive leaders globally at WPP, while 41% of the Executive Committee and 42% of members on our Board were women.

WPP’s overall gender pay gap reflects a lower proportion of women in the most senior roles in our UK companies. This is consistent with the wider industry picture, with women occupying only 39.9% of C-suite roles in 2024, as reported by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s Agency Census.

Lindsay Pattison, Chief People Officer at WPP, said: “We know that inclusive workplaces and a culture of belonging allow our people to fulfil their potential, which in turn leads to greater collaboration and creativity and, ultimately, to business success. That’s why we are committed to ensuring WPP continues to be a place where women can thrive, build exciting careers and progress to the highest levels.”

Across WPP, we are committed to attracting the best talent, fostering a culture of belonging and ensuring everyone has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. Our flagship programmes and initiatives are designed to develop our talent and equip people with the tools, skills and support they need to succeed and lead change within the organisation:

  • Leadership programmes such as Walk the Talk and Maestro aim to provide our senior women with the confidence, skills and networks to excel in their roles, while our refreshed Inclusion as a Skill training, developed in partnership with MindGym, helps employees at all levels learn and practise the behaviours needed to grow as inclusive leaders;
  • WPP Stella, our community for women, continues to expand its membership and recently held its inaugural Stella Creative Summit in London to inspire female creatives across the business and to help them grow their networks;
  • Our UK family policies recognise the challenges individuals face in building a family and balancing work and we have partnered with Careers After Babies to become accredited as a world-class employer of working parents;
  • Our Menopause Workplace Pledge commitment includes training for line managers to help support employees, a community-focused Menopause Champions network, and a UK company-wide menopause policy; and
  • Visible Start, an initiative that helps train and prepare women aged over 45 to return to or begin a new career in advertising and marketing, is now in its fourth year.

1 Data as at 31 December 2024

Further information WPP Communications press@wpp.com

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