Gender Pay Gap – results comparison 2018 vs 2019
All organisations in England, Scotland and Wales with 250 or more relevant employees are required each April to publish their gender pay gap information (the difference between male and female pay).
4th April 2019 was the deadline for reporting for year two since the gender pay gap legislation came in to effect and over 10,000 organisations submitted reports. The results indicated that not a great deal of progress had been made in addressing the gender pay issue, however. The median pay gap in favour of men had only marginally reduced in year two, from 9.7 to 9.6 percent. Also, 45 percent of organisations actually reported an increase in favour of men this time, whilst 80% of organisations currently pay men more on average. The situation is complex though, involving various factors, plus the pay gap calculations don’t take account of different role types within organisations.
Reasons for disparities can include a lack of women in higher paying senior positions, more females traditionally taking family related career breaks or taking part time work which might be at lower skill levels, or stereotypes influencing career choices. Whatever the reasons, UK employers are being encouraged to improve the situation.
So what actions might employers take? Well here are a few ideas:
- Including equal numbers of men and women in shortlists for recruitment and promotions
- Actively promoting family friendly initiatives, such as flexible working and take up of shared parental leave
- Ensuring balanced numbers of men and women participate in learning and development, leadership, talent and succession programmes
- Offering mentoring and networking opportunities
- Being as transparent as possible on pay and reward processes
- Incorporating gender diversity objectives in to schemes such as apprentice or graduate intakes, to include encouraging more women to enter careers traditionally seen as ‘male’
The next gender pay gap needs to be reported by 4th April 2020 – but don’t forget it’s based on the snapshot date of 5th April 2019 – so there’s still a while yet to review your existing calculations and work on your ongoing action plan! If you would welcome some help with reviewing your gender pay gap and formulating your action plan, do give us a call!