Under new gender pay gap regulations that came into force in April 2017, all employers with over 250 employees are required to report their gender pay gap data. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has now announced that 100% of UK employers identified as being in scope of the regulations (because they have over 250 employees), have published their gender pay gap data, amounting to 10,000 businesses.
The data shows that more than three-quarters of in scope UK employers pay their male staff more on average than their female staff, more than half give higher bonuses to men, on average, than women, and over 80% have more women in their lowest paid positions than in their highest paid positions.
The GEO has also published new evidence-based “What Works” guidance for employers, which includes recommendations to help them improve the recruitment and progression of women and close their gender pay gap. The guidance includes recommendations to:
- include multiple women in shortlists for recruitment and promotions
- assess candidates based on skills-based actual tasks they would be expected to perform in their role, rather than relying only on interviews
- make interviews more structured to avoid unfair bias creeping in, i.e. ask the same questions of all candidates in a predetermined order and format and grade candidates’ responses using pre-specified standardised criteria
- encourage salary negotiation by showing salary ranges, as women are currently less likely to negotiate their pay than men
- introduce transparency to pay, promotion and reward processes.