ePolitix.com Stakeholders comment on the news that a report published by the business, enterprise and regulatory reform select committee says not enough is being done by the government to tackle the gender pay gap.

Stakeholder response: Business in the Community



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Sarah Williams Gardener, director of Opportunity Now, the employer's charity which works to promote the business benefits of gender equality and diversity in the workplace, said: "There is a persistent pay gap between men and women. In fact, I think it is no understatement to call it a pay chasm.

"For full-time workers, the gap hovers around 17 per cent, but when you look at the gap between full-time working men and part-time working women, it grows to a massive 41 per cent.

"Men start to earn more than women almost as soon as they enter the labour market and the gap keeps on rising with age. Three years after graduating, women already earn 15 per cent less than their male counterparts.

"These statistics are both shocking and unacceptable. In 2008, a person's gender should not have such a significant impact on their pay packet.

"It is obviously too simplistic to think that this disparity is just down to unlawful discrimination in pay practices, although that is part of the issue.

"The causes of this disparity are many and complex. It's down to the jobs that women do, often the low status, underpaid ones, the fact that quality well-paid part-time work is the exception, not the norm and the fact that women often need to take career breaks due to caring responsibilities.

"But there are other organisational and behavioural factors within workplaces that exacerbate and perpetuate the situation and which employers need to address. For example, the absence of an analytical job evaluation process, lack of training on equal pay issues for those involved in pay decisions, or lack of clarity on pay at entry, pay progression and pay protection.

"Other organisational factors which contribute to the disparity include having more than one pay scale across an organisation, or the indiscriminate nature of bonuses, to name a few. 

"Organisations cannot possibly begin to untangle these complex, yet damaging practices unless they have undertaken an equal pay audit.

"Ask any employer whether they have equal pay and you will be met with an emphatic 'yes'. But if they haven't carried out a pay audit, how do they know? It is only when employers really mine their data and get to grips with the real picture, that they can set about solving it.

"The burden of proof lies with the employer; it is the employer that has to prove that any difference in pay is non-discriminatory. If the employer has not carried out an equal pay audit its defence is seriously weakened. With more equal pay claims now being made, this could be a very expensive mistake. Ensuring pay parity needs to be a priority for both employers and government."
 

Stakeholder response: The Chartered Management Institute

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Petra Wilton, head of public affairs, said: "The latest figures from our annual National Management Salary Survey with Remuneration Economics show men's pay rises outpacing women's for the first time in over a decade, with women's resignations at a five-year high.

"The pay gap has widened at team-leader and middle management levels, as well as in the boardroom. At director level the gap is some 23 per cent, up from 20 per cent in the 2006 survey.

"Worryingly, this is despite that fact that women are enjoying faster career progression than their male colleagues. The average female team leader is 37, five years younger than her male counterpart.

"Women also achieve director roles at a younger age than men, aged 44 as opposed to 48.

"So it's clear that the pull of promotion isn't being matched by parity in pay.

"If employers allow this trend to continue, the knowledge gap in UK organisations will be exacerbated at the very time we are trying to tackle the skills crisis."


Stakeholder response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development



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Charles Cotton, reward and employment conditions adviser, said: "The CIPD welcomes the call by the business and enterprise committee to close the equal pay gap between women and men. However, on their own, we are not convinced that compulsory equal pay reviews will significantly reduce the earnings gap.

"Compulsion will lead to a compliance 'tick box filling' mindset that may overlook some of the other causes of pay inequality. The CIPD supports voluntary equal pay reviews as they make business sense. The majority of private sector firms now claim to link pay to performance and only discriminate on ability, so an equal pay review makes sense in ensuring that money is being well spent on recognising and rewarding contribution rather than reflecting prejudice and bias.

"It also makes sense in that individuals will not want to work for an employer that does not recognise their performance. But there are many other steps that employers can adopt; from carrying out school visits to encourage females into male occupations to ensuring training is onsite, from bursaries and sponsorship to appropriate job and work design. There are many reasons for the pay gap, focusing on just one cause will not help matters."