GENDER PAY REPORTING
“Our aim is for women to represent at least 25% of group leaders by 2020.”
“It is not enough though to just recruit from a more diverse talent pool. We are also aware that retention and progression of females in our workforce is an important issue and we are working with our employees to improve and implement diversity- friendly policies to enable career development in a flexible way. Our gender balance at BP is steadily improving, with women representing 34% of BP’s global population and 21% of group leaders – our most senior managers – at the end of 2017.”
Equality and Human Rights Commission Although the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is not required to publish details of its gender pay gap as it has less than 250 employees, it led by example back in August 2017 by publishing its gender pay gap report . The results showed a buck in the trend as they revealed that women on average earn more than men and also outnumber men at senior levels. Their mean gap is 7.5% and their median, 8.2%. Private and voluntary sector employers need a senior individual to sign off on their gender pay reports. In line with the existing specific duties, this is not required from specified public authorities. The EHRC has gone over and above what would be required if they employed 250 plus employees as they also provided a written statement which explains that their figures are sensitive to any small changes in staffing at senior levels due to their relatively low number of employees.
“Publishing pay gap data should be about looking at ways to improve opportunities and pay and to guide action in organisations. It should also be seen as a way to talk about what your commitments are to diversity and inclusion and to taking action.”
Virgin Money Virgin, as a brand name, has a huge advantage over so many other businesses in that it’s a name we associate with quality and so it would take a significant bombshell for reputation to be impacted by gender pay gap results. It also sits within a sector that traditionally will return high gaps.
Virgin Money took the decision to voluntarily publish their gender pay gap results one year early in 2016 and so were in an enviable position a year later of being able to report a drop in their mean gender pay gap from 36% to 32.5%, indicating that progress is being made in redressing the imbalance. Virgin Money’s Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia has demonstrated the importance of buy-in at Board level as she has taken personal responsibility for the company achieving their target of a 50:50 gender balanced workforce (within a 10 percent tolerance) by 2020.
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THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PAYROLL PROFESSIONALS
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