The Government has just announced its requirements for employers with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay records, with mandatory reporting from April 2017. This followed a period of consultation with employers on issues such as frequency of reporting, threshold of employees and the cut off period for calculation.
The gender pay gap is the difference between all men and women’s average salary and directly affects the types of job women apply for and the level of seniority they achieve. In the UK, this differential was 19.2 per cent last year.
The requirements are more rigorous than expected and will include reporting on bonuses as well as basic pay. This is intended to capture employers who use bonus payments to conceal the differential between salaries for men and women. From 2018 the government will publish league tables intended to shame those employers who have failed to take appropriate corrective action.
The new legislation will also apply to public sector bodies in England – public sector bodies in Scotland and Wales are already subject to reporting requirements.
Affected employers should not underestimate the effect of this reporting on their brand and reputation and their ability to recruit and retain staff. Nicky Morgan, the Education secretary, says women should boycott companies that are failing to close the gender pay gap.
Employers should now be reviewing their pay scales and practices; understanding their workforce; and analysing the current arrangements to identify potential areas of risk.