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| Businesses won’t address the gender pay gap until they are forced to | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Has someone asked you your salary today? No? How strange. After all, as of Thursday the traditional reticence around discussing money and the secrecy over what we’re all paid should have ended. The government requirement that all companies with more than 250 employees publish their salary data, showing the average pay for men and women, has finally come into force. The thinking behind this is that if companies are forced to publicly admit they don’t pay their female staff as much as the males, they’ll be shamed into doing something about it. Female-focused pay rises will ensue and, praise be, the UK will have solved a problem that is currently due to last until 2069. | Has someone asked you your salary today? No? How strange. After all, as of Thursday the traditional reticence around discussing money and the secrecy over what we’re all paid should have ended. The government requirement that all companies with more than 250 employees publish their salary data, showing the average pay for men and women, has finally come into force. The thinking behind this is that if companies are forced to publicly admit they don’t pay their female staff as much as the males, they’ll be shamed into doing something about it. Female-focused pay rises will ensue and, praise be, the UK will have solved a problem that is currently due to last until 2069. |
| Except that it won’t be solved – as any woman who’s ever discovered that the guy sitting next to her is earning more for the same job could have told the policy wonks who thought this up. Why should any company worry about spending money on consultants to analyse its salaries or having to pay its female staff more when it can simply ignore the recommendations and face no reprisal? | Except that it won’t be solved – as any woman who’s ever discovered that the guy sitting next to her is earning more for the same job could have told the policy wonks who thought this up. Why should any company worry about spending money on consultants to analyse its salaries or having to pay its female staff more when it can simply ignore the recommendations and face no reprisal? |
| The original recommendations around pay-gap reporting suggested companies should be fined if they failed to publish their data. However, the government has decided it would rather coax organisations into complying than fine them. This was the approach taken to increase the number of women on FTSE100 boards. Over five years of consistent chivvying, the proportion moved from 12.5% to 26% in 2015, the process was declared a success and the chivvying stopped. Since then, the number has dropped to 25%. If we want corporates to behave differently from the way they have for centuries, constant monitoring and fear of reprisal is needed, not polite requests. | The original recommendations around pay-gap reporting suggested companies should be fined if they failed to publish their data. However, the government has decided it would rather coax organisations into complying than fine them. This was the approach taken to increase the number of women on FTSE100 boards. Over five years of consistent chivvying, the proportion moved from 12.5% to 26% in 2015, the process was declared a success and the chivvying stopped. Since then, the number has dropped to 25%. If we want corporates to behave differently from the way they have for centuries, constant monitoring and fear of reprisal is needed, not polite requests. |
| The government argues that companies will start to comply once they realise that if they don’t, they risk not attracting the best talent. This puts the emphasis on women to make sure we don’t go and work for a company that treats us unfairly. By making it women’s job to hold organisations accountable for equal pay, the government is essentially saying it’s our own fault if we find ourselves underpaid. This attitude ignores the fact that most of us don’t have the luxury of turning down a job when it comes our way. | The government argues that companies will start to comply once they realise that if they don’t, they risk not attracting the best talent. This puts the emphasis on women to make sure we don’t go and work for a company that treats us unfairly. By making it women’s job to hold organisations accountable for equal pay, the government is essentially saying it’s our own fault if we find ourselves underpaid. This attitude ignores the fact that most of us don’t have the luxury of turning down a job when it comes our way. |
| The bigger problem is that these stats won’t accurately reflect where the real issues lie. We know there is a 9.4% pay gap when looking at full-time employees doing the same job. However, this doesn’t take into account that the gap is minimal for women in their 20s and early 30s and much wider for those who are older. Nor does it show that women of colour earn less than white women; that disabled women earn less than those who aren’t. When it comes to pay prejudice, this isn’t a discussion just about gender, it’s a reflection of how we treat anyone who isn’t a non-disabled white man. | The bigger problem is that these stats won’t accurately reflect where the real issues lie. We know there is a 9.4% pay gap when looking at full-time employees doing the same job. However, this doesn’t take into account that the gap is minimal for women in their 20s and early 30s and much wider for those who are older. Nor does it show that women of colour earn less than white women; that disabled women earn less than those who aren’t. When it comes to pay prejudice, this isn’t a discussion just about gender, it’s a reflection of how we treat anyone who isn’t a non-disabled white man. |
| What gender pay reporting might do is make it clear how much more women should be asking for when they’re looking for a pay rise, although again it would be more helpful if the data was intersectional. However, this won’t help women when it comes to actually asking for more money. Research from Harvard shows that managers, both male and female, respond negatively when women ask for a pay rise. This negativity results in either a refusal or a lingering anger at the woman for daring to ask, making it unlikely she’s going to come back for more. | What gender pay reporting might do is make it clear how much more women should be asking for when they’re looking for a pay rise, although again it would be more helpful if the data was intersectional. However, this won’t help women when it comes to actually asking for more money. Research from Harvard shows that managers, both male and female, respond negatively when women ask for a pay rise. This negativity results in either a refusal or a lingering anger at the woman for daring to ask, making it unlikely she’s going to come back for more. |
| The problem with making companies publish their gender pay gap is that while it will force them to acknowledge they pay women less than men, it won’t force them to care. To do that, the government needs to start hitting companies that fail to comply with equal pay laws where it hurts – in their bank accounts. | The problem with making companies publish their gender pay gap is that while it will force them to acknowledge they pay women less than men, it won’t force them to care. To do that, the government needs to start hitting companies that fail to comply with equal pay laws where it hurts – in their bank accounts. |