Deadline For Gender Pay Gap Is Almost Here

When the Government announced the requirement for every business with more than 250 employees to create a gender pay gap report last year, it created quite a buzz amongst the giants of the business world. And now, with the deadline fast approaching, reports suggest that 1 in 10 companies won’t publish in time (Economia, 2017).

To meet requirements, each qualifying company must publish the report on their public website by the 30^st March for public sector and 4^th April for businesses and charities. Using the data from all employees who were employed and received full pay on the “snapshot date”, the report must include the:

• Mean gender pay gap in hourly pay
• Median gender pay gap in hourly pay
• Mean bonus gender pay gap
• Median bonus gender pay gap
• Proportion of males and females receiving bonus payment
• Proportion of males and females in each pay quartile

Enforcing the gender pay gap report is the Government’s first step in an attempt to close the UK’s gender pay gap to add £150 billion to the economy, increase the availability of high-value STEM skills by encouraging more women back into the workforce, and help to close the UK’s productivity gap with its peers.

One of the largest pay gaps reported so far – 51.7% - comes from EasyJet, with Virgin Money following just behind with 32.5%.

Though not all businesses are required to publish a gender pay gap report, it can be a good way of addressing any potential imbalance in the workforce. It encourages companies to look at the gender discrepancies in senior positions and gives them the opportunity to address it. Actively driving the change to have as many women as men in senior roles not only minimises the gender pay gap, but can also have a positive impact on your employees and workplace culture.