The Gender Pay Gap rules came into force at the beginning of April 2017 and have caused quite a stir about whether the legislation will be effective for those required to publish reports.
British organisations that employee over 250 people are required to publish data on what female and male staff were paid on 31st March for public sector organisations and 5th April for businesses and charities. The reporting is meant to provide a holistic picture that highlights the difference between earnings of all female and all male employees across the entire organisation. It is not intended to address any un-equal pay issues between the sexes in similar roles.
There are no formal penalties in place for those who do not conform to the reporting rules, but the rules do instil transparency that could be quite important reputationally. Businesses do not want to be seen as hiding this information or being out of step with the market generally. SA Law Senior Associate Keely Rushmore comments:
"With 84% of women aged 16-30 stating they would consider an organisation's gender pay gap , and 80% saying they would compare it with other organisations when considering employment, it would be unwise not to take the issue seriously"
Keely goes on to add that gender pay gap reporting will not resonate with everyone:
"Some qualifying businesses believe their investors, clients and prospective staff are motivated solely by financial performance and will not be concerned about gender pay gap issues."
To read the full article please visit The Times website. Please note this article may be subject to a paywall.
