Lead5050

Amplifying a powerful new voice for gender equality

Lead5050 is a start-up with a mission: to use data to shed new light on gender pay inequality, and help employers – and other decision-makers – to build fairer workplaces.

Lead5050 had started work on an innovative index of more than 10,000 employers, across the UK.

Unlike traditional gender-pay gap rankings, Lead5050 Gender Equity Index looked at a wide variety of indicators, including not just mean and median pay gaps but bonus payments and pay differentials at all levels of seniority.

We used our expertise in data journalism and data visualisation to help them shape the index and bring it to life. Thanks to our input, Lead5050 introduced new filters, graphics and interactives, including a bold “beeswarm” visual which benchmarked the performance of each employer against its sector rivals at a glance.

We helped Lead5050 prepare the launch of the index, segmenting the data into regions and industries for maximum media impact.

Our work saw the index feature in more than 170 news pieces, including the Evening Standard, Daily Express, Independent, MSN, Yahoo and LBC.

In October, Lead5050 were invited to address the United Nations Global Compact on the gender pay gap.

We have continued to work with Lead5050 on promoting their vital work, including working with Labour’s Shadow Minister Jess Phillips to make the case for the need to improve gender pay gap reporting.