Closing gender pay gap an 'uphill struggle'
Report highlights 'uphill struggle' in closing gender pay gap in Britain
Wednesday, 11, Nov 2009 12:08
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
A report has said fewer than one in five private sector employers measure the gender pay gap in their businesses.
The autumn 2009 CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey, conducted by IPSOS Mori, also found in the public sector, where equal pay monitoring is a statutory requirement, only two in five employers "only complete audits to tick the necessary bureaucratic box rather than as part of an underlying effort to advance gender equality".
The two organisations said their survey findings were likely to disappoint the government, which has included provisions in its equality bill to require private and third sector organisations with more than 250 employees to report on gender pay gaps if too few are doing so voluntarily by 2013.
Dianah Worman, CIPD diversity adviser says: "Judging by these survey findings the government faces an uphill struggle in its efforts to change employer attitudes to closing the gender pay gap, which the latest ONS figures will undoubtedly show still remains far too wide.
"The findings overall suggest that compulsory pay audits are at best a blunt instrument for promoting effective action on closing the gender pay gap and highlight the need for government to instead focus on helping employers in all sectors understand the business benefits of tackling unfair treatment on pay."
The researchers behind the report say they found employers that do measure their pay gap say that it provides useful insights and benchmarking data (60 per cent) and helps inform pay reviews before they take place (43 per cent).
However, the survey finds the average cost of conducting a gender pay audit is more than £5,000 - 50 times higher than government estimates.
Ingrid Waterfield, KPMG head of reward says: "We would encourage all employers to investigate their pay structures from the perspective of fairness and equality whether or not legislation is introduced to this effect.
"Leading businesses examine their pay gaps not because of government, but because they understand the reputational and legal damage in not getting it right."