The gender pay gap is a world wide issue, campaigns to raise awareness and make changes are increasing. On the 10 November this year we saw Equal Pay Day, where women around the world including Iceland, France and the UK, were encouraged to down tools at the moment in the working day after which women effectively work for free for the rest of 2016.
Legislation
Even though it is forty-six years since the Equal Pay Act, the Fawcett Society (using ONS data), shows that at the current rate of change, true gender equality in terms of pay will not be realised for another 62 years.
The shocking reality here is that it’s quite likely that in our lifetimes, we won’t reach the point where men and women are being paid the same for their skills and talents. Of course, legislation exists to fight discrimination in the workplace, but it’s clear that we still have a long way to go.
Progress
This month the eyes of the world were on the US, where its first-ever female presidential nominee vied to become its first-ever female president.
But it was not to be: and in her words, Hillary Clinton said she had “not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling.”
Despite the current 51 days of women working for free, some positive progress has been made, if you consider that twenty years ago, it was 76 days being worked for free.
However, Sam Smethers, Chief Executive of Fawcett Society warns that as we look ahead to a UK outside of the EU and possibly single market, we have to guard against the risk of going backwards and losing some of the rights that women have fought for over many years.
Will you lead by example?
As an employer you have a responsibility to step up and play your part in closing the gap. Perhaps you already do offer equal pay in the same roles, but how many senior members of your team are female?
Before you insist that the women in your company do not want to be promoted, consider whether you’re creating an environment that encourages and promotes women to seek out executive positions.
If you want to be a leader in narrowing the gender pay gap, there are steps you can take both explicitly and implicitly to ensure that your company is offering equal opportunities to its workers. As you are no doubt well aware, a company that focuses on the happiness of their staff will see increased long term success in their business.
- Never assume that an employee with a family isn’t interested in developing their career or being promoted. Understand that different people respond in different ways towards applying for positions. Google experimented and found that when they prompted employees through email to apply for promotions their rates of women applying actually soared.
- Promote a working culture where performance is rewarded rather than the number of hours worked. Look at your family leave policies, are there changes you could make that will encourage parents of all genders to stay long term with you?
Remember that staff who are unhappy with their pay are more likely to leave. Your business will lose its talent and be wasting money on recruitment, inductions and training if they are unhappy. Successful businesses are created through loyal and invested employees.
Don’t just follow the legislation, instead why not become a leader in your field, and create an inclusive and positive working culture for all your employees, whatever their backgrounds. If you would like advice on how you can do this, then take your first step and contact us.