EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren recently requested that his salary be cut. An annual loss of $48,000. While that’s more than many of us mere mortals earn in total in a year, while it’s a lot of cash, this is actually less than 5% of Lundgren’s $706.000 salary. So while he isn’t likely to feel the pinch of this pay cut, it certainly begs the question as to why he would ASK for a pay cut!
In support of equal rights
The answer is, that when Johan Lundgren took over the position last month, he was instantly paid $48,000 dollars more than his predecessor. His predecessor, Carolyn McCall who left to head up ITV was female, and so Lundgren has made this stand to highlight his personal commitment to equal pay and equal opportunities for both women and men.
A magnanimous gesture or publicity stunt?
This has obviously brought quite a reaction from the public. Many people are calling it a publicity stunt, created to improve the reputation of EasyJet.
The current situation at EasyJet
So what’s the state of play with equal pay at EasyJet at the moment? You’d think with Lundgren’s rather dramatic gesture, that things would be pretty equal. At first glance, they certainly aren’t, but the truth lies a little deeper…
Overall, the pay difference between male and female employees at EasyJet is a massive 52 percent. That sounds pretty terrible, but isn’t simply a case that men are paid twice as much as women. It’s mainly due to a wider dis-balance across the industry as a whole. Those in the higher paid roles, such as pilots and captains tend to be male. As yet, there are just not that many female pilots flying planes. Additionally, a recent survey showed that 57 of the top 100 airlines didn’t have a female in any of their top six executive roles.
Lundgren has stated that EasyJet have a target for 20 percent of new pilots to be female, and their aim is to hit this, or exceed it by 2020.
New British Laws Changing the Exposure of Pay Disparity
A new law will soon be in place that requires businesses to clearly state the differences in pay between their male and female employees. This is going to bring some bad publicity for many businesses if they don’t make some changes before this law comes into effect.
Emily is an avid writer with a passion for the travel industry. She also loves learning and writing about nutrition and healthy living. Emily is based in the UK.
