Head of People Experience reflects on her 20+ year career in Social Housing
To celebrate International Women’s Day, Helen Chapman, our Head of People Experience reflects on her 20+ year career in Social Housing and the changes she has seen in the sector and at Incommunities. We’re also proud to share our 2024 Gender Pay Gap report and how we’re breaking down barriers to fairness and equity in our pay practices.
I'm Helen Chapman, and lead the People Experience team here at Incommunities. In the spirit of celebrating International Women’s Day, I’m excited to share our 2024 Gender Pay Gap report and talk about how we’re breaking down barriers to fairness and equity in our pay practices.
Our latest gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reports are now published and I’m pleased to say that for the third year running, our average gender pay gap has dropped to -0.84%! That’s substantially below the national average of 14.3% in 2023 and it means that, on average, women are earning slightly more than men here.
Working in Social Housing for over 20 years has been quite the journey. I've had the privilege of working alongside female CEOs, which has been incredibly inspiring. Looking back, I remember when I was one of the few women in a leadership role, but now I’m proud to say I’m one of many.
It's so exciting to see more women stepping into senior leadership positions, especially areas like construction, which have traditionally been male dominated. Attitudes towards women in housing have really changed too. What used to be common, like encountering sexism, is now a rare thing in our workplace. The future for women in Social Housing is brighter than ever. Seeing more women joining Incommunities, in all kinds of roles, and the progress we’ve made fills me with pride.
We’ve made positive strides, but there’s still work to do. As a mother to two daughters, and a grandmother to a young granddaughter, I want to see a working world where it’s not about being male-dominated or exclusive. We need to keep breaking down the barriers that keep women and people of all genders from entering the Housing Sector. This isn’t just for today but to ensure a more inclusive workplace for the future.
In the past two years, Incommunities have been actively working on Equity Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We started by looking at our Gender Pay Gap, then our Ethnicity Pay Gap last year, and now we’ve added our Disability Pay Gap this year.
Taking a data driven approach to our EDI journey has given us valuable insights and the push to make changes. Our Ethnicity Pay Gap report shows some progress from our 2023 report, but we’re not yet as ethnically diverse as the communities we serve. The number of ethnically diverse people joining Incommunities has been slow to increase, so we’re committed to taking more action, including reviewing our recruitment practices to reach a more diverse pool of talent, and improving our learning offer around EDI and unconscious bias.
Regarding our new Disability Pay Gap report, it’s great to see a zero median pay gap, showing equality. However, we know that some colleagues may not have disclosed their disabilities. To address this, we’re planning changes to our disability monitoring process to encourage more people to participate and share this information.
Embedding EDI requires systemic change. Alongside improving our data and processes, we’re taking consistent action through our EDI plans and strategies, to create a more inclusive culture for our colleagues. I’m very optimistic about the journey ahead.
Click to read more on our commitments and view our Pay Gap Reports.