Is it enough to publish just one statistic, or should you break it down further? What responses should companies expect from employees, stakeholders and customers when they present their pay structures? And will this lead to greater pay transparency in the future?
Ann Francke, chief executive at the CMI, says:
"Nicky Morgan’s announcement that large employers will have to publish their gender gap figures is great news. I applaud the use of league tables to celebrate progressive businesses and highlight those lagging behind. At the current rate of progress we estimate that closing the gender pay and leadership gap would take about 100 years.
So how to change all this? Two leading drivers of change: targets and transparency.
The transparency of reporting on gender pay and the gender pipeline will be a watershed in accelerating change. Shining a light on what men are paid versus women at every level, as well as monitoring the percentage of women at every level, is proven to speed up progress.
We encourage employers to view transparency in pay and talent pipeline as an opportunity to drive change and use it to set targets. Leading employers in the Think, Act, Report initiative are doing just that.
Transparency of pay reporting will have big implications for the part-time workforce. Women comprise the majority of part-time workers, and this affects how much they earn and how much they can go on to earn.
Employers now really need to embrace these changes. Championing gender equality makes organisational cultures more inclusive and mainstream. In doing so, employers will reap a bonus knock-on effect for everyone in the organisation. Diversity begets diversity.
Plus, you’ll boost the quality of your management and leadership just by improving gender equality. According to the CMI’s research and the OECD latest numbers, effective management and leadership is the single biggest thing we can do in the UK to drive up productivity levels."
