The gender pay gap statistics are out for this year and they show that the average gap in pay between men and women in the UK is getting smaller year by year. That said, even though the figures show improvement, women on average still only earn 91.7% of what men typically earn.
So, what can employers do about this? The employment team at Darwin Gray have come up with 6 tips for your business or organisation to try and close your gender pay gap:
Encourage women to go for the top jobs.
One of the reasons why women are, on average, paid less than men is because they tend to apply for lower paying or less senior jobs. One way to unlock your gender pay gap problem therefore is to encourage female applicants and to encourage existing female staff to go for internal promotions.
As female employees statistically bear the greater childcare responsibilities, being more open to flexible working arrangements and hours can help females climb the jobs ladder quicker.
Don’t ask new job applicants what they were paid previously
In the past ten years, the gender pay gap between males and females has fallen by a quarter. Therefore, asking a female applicant what she was paid previously may result in an answer that is skewed by the reality that there was a much greater gender pay gap in the past.
Essentially, asking women what they were paid in the past transfers gender pay gap issues of the past to the here and now. The only way to break from that cycle is to not ask what an applicant was previously paid.
Encourage women to negotiate
Salary negotiation is a good thing (it shows that staff are confident, creative characters) and you should encourage your female employees to engage in it. Statistics show that male employees are much more likely to negotiate their salaries than females, so encouraging females to negotiate salaries should help eradicate another contributor towards the gender pay gap.
Do more than just report your gender pay gap
The law requires employers with more than 250 employees to report their gender pay gap statistics every year. These statistics need to be reported via company websites and also via a central Government platform. It’s often the case that a poor gender pay gap will be picked up by the media, resulting in some unwanted publicity.
However, whilst reporting your gender pay gap is one thing, the bigger issue is that employers do something to address it. Whilst this isn’t technically a legal requirement, it goes without saying that improving your gender pay gap statistics will be a great, positive message to send publicly.
Take charge of the diversity in your company
It might be worth appointing a specific person to take the role of making sure that the diversity in your company gets the attention it needs. A diversity manager could be useful to take a general look at your company and come up with easy fixes to help bring the pay gap down. Having someone high up at manager level would also take the diversity issues right to the top and force those making the big decisions to change their ways so that it means paying women the same as they pay men.
Beware going too far
Whilst it’s good to have targets to lower your gender pay gap, taking action which discriminates against male employees may actually result in sex discrimination against males. It’s therefore a delicate balancing act and always worth taking advice.
