We are moving into our fourth year of publishing our Gender Pay Gap (GPG) figures, and the world around us is changing. The UK is experiencing a dramatic change in the way we work, and in the way marginalised groups are supported. It is becoming increasingly likely that even businesses with between 50 and 250 employees will now be required to report on their Ethnicity Pay Gap.
However, in March, the government decided to suspend enforcement of the legislation, allowing companies to choose not to report their 2019 results. The glass is half full - there remains around 50% of organisations that are voluntarily reporting their GPG, despite there being no legislative requirement.
Here are five benefits of voluntarily publishing:
Reputation
Investors and other stakeholders are now increasing pressure on organisations to take affirmative action to improve Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). The GPG is one way to show action being taken, and progress being made. Our voluntary GPG report is proof of commitment to the outside world.
Additionally, our staff are becoming more knowledgeable about the ethics and sustainability of businesses that they support. GPG narratives can be a powerful signal to these groups and demonstrate strength in our executive team’s commitment to Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) issues.
Talent attraction and retention
Signalling an inclusive culture is attractive to our potential candidates and living an inclusive culture retains employees. 61% of women take an organisation’s GPG into consideration when applying for roles (EHRC, 2018) and voluntarily reporting a GPG and a strong narrative are a tool for attraction.
Our current employees will also expect us to report a GPG, and track progress, so continuing the narrative demonstrates long-term commitment to the cause. What gets measured, gets changed
GPG can be a hard-to-ignore trigger for leaders to move D&I up the business agenda, and become more active advocates of gender representation. Undertaking equal pay and workforce analysis can help us pinpoint where changes can be made to support a diverse talent profile.
Increased accountability
Where D&I is already on the business agenda, voluntarily reporting a GPG and accompanying narrative hold businesses accountable to the promises they make, to ensure progress is made between reporting. Where this is integral to the employee value proposition, or in industries which are seeking to drive stronger gender representation, our GPG cannot be regarded as simply a ‘nice to have’ set of data, but is business critical.
Proactivity beats reactivity
For organisations currently below the reporting threshold, or those who are considering leading from the front in Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting, voluntary reporting can be used as a dry run for legislative changes that are being proposed. In a world where employees are demanding more solutions for equality of opportunity, experience and pay, and organisations are being set apart by their responses, it would be detrimental not to act, now.
Michelle Sequeira is a UK Diversity and Inclusion lead at Mercer.