As the consultation closes on the Government’s draft gender pay reporting regulations today, new research findings based on a survey of over 1,000 employers and HR professionals show that a minority of organisations currently conduct any gender pay analysis, as well as the limited action being taken by employers to address the causes of gender inequality.
The survey, which has informed the CIPD’s response to the consultation over the draft regulations, finds just 28% of employers overall and 34% at larger organisations (those with 250 or more employees) say their organisation conducts any analysis of the pay of men and women. Among organisations that don’t currently analyse gender pay differentials, only 7% of large organisations plan to conduct any analysis of the pay of men and women in the next 12 months, with 47% saying they won’t and 46% responding that they don’t know if they will or not, reflecting the uncertainty amongst employers over the timelines for the implementation of the gender pay reporting regulations.
Dianah Worman, diversity adviser for CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, comments:
The survey also shows that action taken by employers to promote equal opportunities for men and women within the last two years, or planned over the next 12 months, is limited and on an ad-hoc basis.
The most commonly cited ways in which organisations have tried to improve equal opportunities in the last two years are:
- improving the range of flexible working opportunities available to staff (26% all employers; 34% large employers)
- developing more inclusive recruitment practices (16% all employers; 21% large employers)
- through greater use of mentoring in the last two years to help women progress into the most senior levels in the business (13% all employers; 19% large employers)
- improving the childcare package they offer staff (10% all employers; 14% of large employers)
But worryingly, just 5% of employers (8% of large employers) say their organisation has developed closer links with schools or colleges as a means of improving the gender balance in certain occupations or sectors.
Looking ahead, fewer than half (44%) of employers say they have no specific plans in the next 12 months to improve opportunities for women with two-thirds of smaller employers and a third of larger employers saying this is the case.
Among those employers that are planning action to improve the gender balance, the most popular remedy is to improve flexible working opportunities (13% of large employers), the development of more inclusive recruitment practices (11% of large employers) and the introduction of mentoring to help women progress into more senior roles (13% of large employers).
Worman continues:
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