New Guidance to Help Employers Close Gender Pay Gap

Addressing the gender pay gap has become a priority for many employers since the legislation was introduced in 2017, with 69% of employers now placing this at a high or medium priority. The Government Equalities Office (GEO) has published two new pieces of guidance for to help employers close their gender gap.

What Are the Causes of Gender Pay Gap? This first guide - Eight ways to understand your gender pay gap - focuses on potential causes of a gender pay gap, for example:

• Women are more concentrated in sectors that offer a narrower scope for financial reward (human health and social work), whilst some of the highest paying sectors are made up of significantly more men (information and communications technology and energy supply).

• Differences in full-time work affect women's wages who have previously worked part-time or have taken time out of the labour market to look after family.

• Fewer women are progressing as far up the career ladder as their male counterparts and a much higher proportion of men hold manager, director and senior official roles. Employers should look for pay discrepancies in different job types and departments, including seniority structures.

The guide also focuses on specific parts of employment, from recruitment to termination, and provides an insight to employers on which of their policies or practices could be contributing to their gender pay gap, with suggestions for improvement.

Tackling Gender Pay Gap Entitled Four steps to developing gender pay gap action plan, the second guide recommends employers work hand in hand with staff to obtain feedback, which should then be used to formulate effective action plans. Employers are encouraged to analyse and monitor their action plan to ensure that it is having the desired effect and is integrated into the organisation.

For more information, please contact Gareth Edwards in our Employment Law team on 0117 314 5220.