Gender Pay Gap
As we revert to working in the office a bit more, hybrid working diminishes, but it isn’t going away altogether. Covid has proved that we can work from anywhere, but does that mean we are less visible and, as a result, less likely to be considered for promotion?
Visibility at work
In some organisations, being visible is key to being recognised. That might mean being recognised for your area of expertise or a ‘hardworking’ employee worth salary raises and promotions to move up the career ladder.
The hybrid work model is here to stay. And people more likely to work from home are;
- People with disabilities
- Parents of young children
- Women
Approaches that organisations can use to close the gender pay gap
The leading causes of the gender pay gap, as detailed in a report by Fawcett Equality, are;
- Discrimination
- Unequal caring responsibilities
- Divided labour market
- Men in the most senior roles
Discrimination
Pregnancy and maternity leave
Some women still get paid less than men for the same work. There is still an abundance of discrimination around pregnancy. The Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals that the scale of pregnancy discrimination is even greater than we thought.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has found that 54,000 new working mothers, 1 in every 9, lose their jobs each year due to their pregnancy. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady blames a persisting culture of workplace bullying about which employers are still in denial. She also calls it ‘a wake-up call to ministers, who have made it more expensive and stressful for pregnant women and new mothers to challenge discrimination in employment tribunals.
The report also identified that three-quarters of pregnant women receive negative or discriminatory behaviour in the workplace.
Unequal caring responsibilities
Women play a more significant role in caring for children and sick and elderly relatives. As a result, more women work part-time. We know that part-time jobs are lower paid and more likely not to receive the same opportunities in terms of promotions. This is an apparent reason why the gender pay gap exists. What if men become the primary careers?
Divided labour market
Women are still more likely to be in low-paid or low-skilled jobs, which affects a divided labour market segregation. For example, 80% of those working in the low-paid care and leisure sector are women.
Men in the most senior roles
Men make up the majority of the highest paid, senior roles. For example, only 5% of the FTSE 100 CEOs are women.
What can companies do to close the gender pay gap in their organisations?
We will not close the gender pay gap by focusing on pay. As easy as that sounds, there are so many more layers to the gender pay gap, which we will cover.
There are three key strands companies can prioritise to work on closing the gender pay gap.
- How does the company attract its staff?
- How does the company develop its existing staff?
- How does the company retain their staff
Senior-level support
To change the culture of a business, the HR leaders need support from the most senior members of the organisation.
Business benefits to increasing gender diversity at work
Gender-diverse teams perform better than single-gender teams for several reasons:
- Men and women and gender-fluid, non-binary individuals have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights, enabling better problem solving, ultimately leading to superior performance at the business unit level.
- A gender-diverse workforce provides easier access to resources, such as various sources of credit, multiple sources of information, and broader industry knowledge.
- A gender-diverse workforce allows the company to serve a diverse customer base.
- Gender diversity helps companies attract and retain talented women. This is especially relevant as more women join the workplace around the world. Companies cannot afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and expect to be competitive in the global economy.
