Tesco has become the first major retailer to report a gender pay gap across its UK operations, with men earning on average 12 per cent more than their female counterparts.
The announcement comes after the supermarket compared the earnings of more than 225,000 members of staff.
All firms with more 250 employees are required by government to do the same and reveal their respective median and mean gender pay gaps before a deadline in April.
At Tesco the mean gender pay gap (taking into account low and high earners) is 12 per cent, while the median gender pay gap (between ‘middle earners’) is 8.7 per cent.
Comparing bonuses, the gaps are larger, with a mean gap of 42.6 per cent and a median gap of 27 per cent.
In its report, Tesco said its analysis had found the difference in earnings was down to “career and lifestyle choices”, such as opting for shifts at premium times, such as nights and bank holidays.
The supermarket also mentioned the fact had more male members of staff held senior positions.
Tesco UK's chief executive Matt Davies said: 'While we're pleased that our gender pay gap is significantly below the UK median, we want to close the gap altogether.'
Commenting on the relative lack of women in senior roles, he added: “I’m pleased that we are making progress in this area and exceeded our own target of 25 per cent women on the board by the end of 2017.
“But we know there is more to do when it comes to other leadership roles in our business. So earlier this year we signed up to the 30 per cent Club, which encourages businesses to achieve a minimum of 30 per cent female representation in senior leadership roles by 2020.”
In the report, Tesco added: 'For the same role, regardless of gender, all our hourly paid colleagues are paid the same hourly rate and premium hourly rate.
“When we remove the premium payment from the calculation, then the gender pay gap reduces even more significantly to a median of just 2.7 per cent.'
