The House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee has published its gender pay gap report, 'Gender pay gap reporting'. The report identifies the UK as having one of the highest gender pay gaps in Europe.
Evidence shows that smaller businesses tend to have a higher gender pay gap, and the report calls on the government to extend the obligation to publish gender pay gap data to those employers with over 50 employees (currently it just applies to those with over 250). The report also recommends that organisations should be required to publish an explanation of any gender pay gap, together with an action plan for closing the gap.
Meanwhile, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) has announced that all of the UK employers identified as being in scope of gender pay gap regulations have published their data. More than three quarters of these employers pay their male staff more on average than their female staff, more than half give higher bonuses to men, on average, that women, and over 80% have more women in their lowest paid positions than in their highest paid positions.
The GEO has also published new 'What Works' guidance. This includes recommendations to:
- Assess candidates based on actual tasks they would be expected to perform in their role, and make intervies more structured to avoid unfair bias creeping in;
- Encourage salary negotiation by showing salary ranges, as women are currently less likely to negotiate their pay than me;
- And introduce transparency to pay, promotion reward processes.
This article is taken from HR Law - September 2018.
