9th November 2015 was termed “Equal Pay Day” by the Fawcett Society. It marks the day from which, until the end of 2015, women will work for free compared to their male counterparts. The calculation was made using official statistics on hourly pay for full-time workers comparing gender pay.
The pay gap between men and women is currently at 14.2%. This figure has not fluctuated much in the last few years and shows a stagnation in any progress towards gender pay equality. However the government have now promised to remove this discrepancy within a generation by creating legislation requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish any gender pay discrepancies they find.
This legislation is likely to come into force in 2016. Although we are not certain how far-reaching the requirements and the level or responsibility placed upon businesses will be, businesses need to start preparing now if they wish to stay ahead of the game.
“The key to getting ahead of the legislation is to get ahead of the curve and think about equal pay right from the start of each employee’s journey”, believes Mike McClelland, CEO of recruitment management software company Advorto.
How Should You Avoid Gender Pay Bias
Processes should be in place to ensure that when hiring new employees, salary considerations are made based on the information provided and collected about each candidate without considering their gender.
“Robust recruitment management software should allow HR professionals to store all information collected on a candidate in one place where it can be analysed separate from gender issues based on the merits of each candidate”, continues Mike. “This feeds into the current trend of data driven recruitment – using analysis and pure facts to select the most appropriate candidates, rather than relying wholly on often biased interview procedures”.
“Recruiting in this method also provides a strong basis to set salary for each role based on the objective data – the requirements of the role, a candidate’s level of experience and ability – without any gender bias. Reviewing employees’ salary regularly based on all available data, of both the individual and comparable colleagues ensures that this equality is carried throughout an employee’s time at the business”, Mike concludes.
Promoting equal pay doesn’t just benefit companies in the run up to the proposed legislation, but businesses that treat all staff fairly are far more likely to attract and keep the most talented candidates. It pays to pay fairly.
To find out how Advorto can assist you to comply with the upcoming legislation, please call them on 020 7101 0330 or visit their website.
