15 November 2019
The hospitality industry has been identified as the sector with the largest gender pay gap, with women earning an average of £12,322 per year compared to men, where the average was £15,459.
The issue isn’t confined to those working within hospitality, as there are also disparities between the pay of males and females working within fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail. Men earn 24% more pay than their female counterparts with average pay of £16,222 compared to £13,094. Females in teaching and education roles confirmed average salaries of £15,376 as opposed to males who commanded an average of £18,953, this equates to a difference of 23%.
The area in which the pay gap was the smallest was in computing and IT roles where men received an average of 6% more than women - £20,641 against £19,483.
The report, entitled ‘Hidden heroes: Discovering the unsung workforce driving the UK economy’ collected responses from employees in the UK earning below £30,000. There were 354,216 respondents and the report showed that there is a very real gender pay gap, particularly in low-income jobs. Additional findings show that 42% of female respondents were paid below £15,000 per year in comparison with 23% of men.
The Fawcett Society, a charity that wants to tackle the issue of outright pay discrimination, has confirmed that they are marking today as Equal Pay Day.
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Top bosses who work three days could earn above the average worker’s pay for the whole of the year 7 January 2020 It has been reported that top bosses, who earn approximately 117 times the annual pay of an average worker, will only need to work until 17:00 on Monday 6 January 2020 to earn the equivalent of what a standard full-time employee commands in a whole year. In a press release from the CIPD, which details its work in conjunction with independent think tank, the High Pay Centre, Monday 6 January 2020 has been labelled as ‘High Pay Day’. Findings demonstrated that, in 2018, the average FTSE 100 CEO earned £901.30 per hour, or £3.46 million per annum. In stark contrast to this, the average full-time employee earned £14.37 per hour, or £29,559 for the year. There will be heavy emphasis placed on the issue of high pay in 2020, as this is the first year in which publicly listed firms employing over 250 staff will need to confirm the ratio between what their CEOs are paid, alongside that of their average worker. The first figures will be disclosed in 2020, and under amended requirements stated within the Companies Act (2006), businesses must provide CEO pay ratio figures along with the rationale behind them. It is hoped that this will prompt companies to reassess how they pay their staff and to encourage the practice of fair pay amongst businesses. There appears to be a long-standing practice of top bosses receiving excessive amounts of money whilst other workers are paid salaries that often mean that they struggle to keep up with the increasing cost of living. This creates a feeling of distrust and animosity within businesses and many are welcoming the new CEO pay ratio reporting requirements and are hoping it will lead to more transparency within the workplace. The new regulations mean that it is mandatory for employers who fit certain criteria to disclose the ratio of their CEO’s pay to the median, lower quartile and upper quartile pay of their UK employees. They must also explain the reasons behind any year-to-year increases or decreases to the ratios, whether or not they believe the median ratio is consistent with the organisation’s wider policies surrounding pay, how they have calculated the ratio and which method was used.
CIPP comment
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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