[Gender pay gap in a large university hospital in the Netherlands]

Differences in payment between men and women are common. The goal of this study was to assess differences in payment in a large Dutch university hospital.

The Human Resource Management & Organizational BehaviorCenter, University of Groningen conducted the study. Anonymous monthly data from UMCG employees from 2012-2020 (13,212 employees with a permanent appointment and a minimum size of 0.2 Full Time Equivalent (FTE)), were used regarding salary, function, leadership position, department, age, gender, FTE, bonuses and allowances. The total salary consisted of gross salary, bonuses and allowances. Medical specialists were further divided in surgical, medical and support groups.

Female employees earned on average less than their male colleagues throughout the entire period. In 2020, female medical specialists received an average of 6.1% less salary than male colleagues; for non-medical staff this was 3.2%. A breakdown by salary components showed that for the medical specialists the difference in total salary was not due to differences in gross salary (-0.5%), but to the difference in allowances and bonuses. Female medical specialists received up to 7.1% less in bonuses and up to 5.4% less in allowances and for non-medical staff, in addition to a significant difference in gross salary in 2020 (average -1.7%), a similar pattern was seen. Among medical specialists, the difference was greatest for surgical specialists: 9.9%, compared to 3.0% and 0.4% for medical and support specialists respectively.

We showed a gender payment gap within one of the largest university hospitals of the Netherlands, which is systematic, in time and throughout the institution. The most striking differences are due to bonuses and gratifications.