Chwarae Teg’s latest research shows that £13.6bn could be added to Wales’ economy by 2028 if we were to achieve gender equality in terms of employment rate, hours worked and average productivity.
Businesses with 250 or more employees are required to report annually on their pay for men and women, including the mean and median hourly pay, gender bonus gap, the proportion of men and women who will receive a bonus and the proportion of men and women working at each quartile of the pay distribution.
Together these figures provide a snapshot of where women are likely to be working in an organisation, and how this is affecting their income. In addition to the figures, organisations are strongly encouraged to produce a narrative outlining the causes of any gap and action they will take to address it.
We encourage all businesses to publish a narrative and it was positive to see that many organisations who reported their gender pay gap figures last year chose to do this.
Reporting Gender Pay Gap figures is just the first step. Reporting can be an incredibly useful tool to highlighting any areas or actions that might be preventing the recruitment, retention or progression of women. It’s increasingly accepted that inclusive businesses are more successful and employees are increasingly looking at a businesses’ commitment to equality and diversity when making decisions about where to work.
What about SMEs?
Whilst SMEs aren’t directly affected, business owners still need to be aware, as it could well be cascaded to include SMEs at some point in the future. And if you have big plans for your business or you are edging towards 250 employees, you will benefit from putting best practice in place.
Running a business may seem like a never-ending pile of legislative and policy paperwork, but it’s worth your while embracing gender pay gap reporting as a tool to help you grow your business. At Chwarae Teg we know that everyone will benefit from equality, and all types of business have a role to play.
So you’ve reported your gender pay gap – what next?
Research has shown that businesses that embrace diversity can see a range of benefits including increased productivity, improved retention rates, improved recruitment and ultimately improvement in the bottom line.
Become a FairPlay Employer!
We can work with you to benchmark and support your organisation on ten key areas of the business within your industry sector. These are the things that we know prevent organisations from attracting, retaining and progressing women – things like flexible working, recruitment, communication, performance management. Improving any of those isn’t just for women, it will benefit staff across the workforce.
Eligible SMEs can access our Agile Nation2 Business Programme, a six month Chwarae Teg consultancy service fully funded by the European Social Fund through Welsh Government. We can support you to help you increase your competitive advantage and become an employer of choice.
For larger organisations Chwarae Teg’s FairPlay Employer subscription programme brings together over 25 years’ of experience working with organisations on these issues. We currently work with organisations across public and private sectors including the DVLA, Ford Manufacturing, Motonovo, and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).