Men are significantly more likely to receive annual bonuses than their female colleagues – and the payments they receive are typically far larger – according to a new analysis of more than a million UK employees.
The figures show that men are nearly 1.5 times more likely than women to receive a bonus. When they do, they receive almost double the amount on average – £4,913 compared with £2,723 for women. That equates to 9.5 percent of salary for men and just 6 percent for women.
The gender bonus gap is even more pronounced in later working life, with men in their early 50s receiving bonuses worth £4,500 more than women in the same age bracket. Directors were awarded the most generous payouts, averaging over £54,000, while employees in lower-paid support roles, such as cleaning and catering, were offered around £535.
The data, which comes from payroll records of over 1.1 million employees, suggests that reward practices are perpetuating long-standing gender inequalities across both the private and public sectors.
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Gap widens by age and seniority
The disparity is not limited to who receives a bonus, but how much they get. Across the board, bonuses for men are around 1.8 times higher than for women. The bonus gap increases with age, peaking in the early 50s. At that point, men receive an average bonus of £8,693, compared with £4,193 for women – a difference of more than £4,500.
Sector and job function also play a role. Sales and marketing professionals earned the highest average bonuses, worth 23.5 percent of their salary, while science roles saw the lowest – just 1.5 percent. In terms of industry, the private sector paid out the highest bonuses overall, with an average of £6,827 (12.3 percent of salary). But it was also the most selective: just over 10 percent of private-sector employees received a bonus, compared with nearly 40 percent in manufacturing and production.
One of the most striking differences was by role seniority. Directors took home the largest average bonuses – £54,014, or more than a third of their salary. By contrast, employees in routine support positions received just £535, around 2.2 percent of salary.
Call for urgent reward review
The findings have prompted fresh concern over the fairness of bonus structures, particularly in organisations that publicly commit to closing gender pay gaps. They come in the same month as a separate analysis showing that the UK gender pay gap has been underestimated for the past two decades.
Sheila Attwood of data firm Brightmine, which conducted the analysis, said the real issue was not just the decline in bonuses overall, but the extent to which women are missing out.
“While bonuses are becoming scarcer across the workforce, the real story is the gap between males and females receiving bonuses,” she said. “This, alongside the news that the UK gender pay gap has been underestimated for the past 20 years, serves to highlight a continuing equity issue that organisations can no longer afford to ignore.
“If employers are serious about inclusivity, they need to face the gap head on and interrogate their reward practices to ensure transparency, fairness and consistency.”
What employers should do
The analysis calls on companies to audit their reward structures and bonus allocation criteria. In particular, employers are advised to:
- Audit bonus practices to understand where gender disparities in both eligibility and value may be occurring.
- Review reward strategies to ensure they promote fairness, retention and inclusivity – not reinforce systemic inequality.
- Examine cultural and systemic biases, particularly at senior levels, where pay gaps often widen despite stated equity commitments.
Experts say failure to act not only risks reputational damage but can also hinder talent retention and organisational performance.
The gender bonus gap has long been overshadowed by the broader issue of unequal base salaries. But analysts argue that bonuses often make up a significant portion of total compensation – especially in senior and commercial roles – and can compound long-term inequalities over time, including into retirement.
The figures are based on payroll data from 1,132,020 individuals working in nearly 1,000 UK organisations. Of those, 138,411 employees across 330 organisations received a bonus and were included in the analysis. Job levels ranged from entry-level to executive, and data was broken down by function, sector and industry.
