Corporate woman celebrates money win, and success. [PHOTO: COURTESY]
British American Tobacco Kenya plc (BAT Kenya) has reported that female employees earn more than their male counterparts in several job categories within the company.
British American Tobacco Kenya plc (BAT Kenya) is part of the British American Tobacco Group (BAT Group), a leading multi-category consumer goods business that has existed since 1907. They were listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 1969.
Data analysis revealed that women outperformed men in 4 out of 8 job groups and were on par with men in other job grades.
Outstanding performance
However, men had the advantage in the remaining three job groupings. The largest difference was observed in the senior management group, where women earned 19 percent more than men due to the outstanding performance of female employees and the addition of experienced external female staff.
Women also outearned men in job groups G32, G33, and G35, but men earned considerably more than women in the lowest job category, with a margin of 67 percent. The company attributed the pay gap to years of service and the annual salary review process.
Men spend more time in the same job group, leading to higher average times in grades. On average, male employees stayed within the same pay grade for four and a half years while female employees stayed for three years and two months. BAT has pledged to address the issue by considering factors like performance, experience, and time in job groups in salary reviews to ensure equality and fairness in pay.
Men have always been ahead of women
The BAT situation is challenging the gender pay gap in Kenya has always put men ahead of women. According to a 2019 study on gender equality in Kenya, by Equileap on average, women earn 32% less than their male counterparts, compared to 23% globally.
BAT Kenya serves as a manufacturing hub for Kenya’s domestic market and BAT markets in East Africa and Southern Africa, as well as export markets across Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa, through a cigarette manufacturing plant in Nairobi and a green leaf threshing (GLT) plant in Thika.
