Gender Pay Reporting - Looking Beyond the Stats

On 4 April 2019, businesses with more than 250 employees, including their temporary workforce, will be required to publish their gender pay data. Gender pay reporting was introduced in April 2018 in an effort to shed light and encourage business to take action on the gender pay gap. Last year’s figures revealed that women in the UK earn on average 18 per cent less than men. It is reported that this year’s figures are expected to be around the same.

In order to be compliant businesses must publish data in relation to six categories:

• The difference between the mean hourly rate of pay for male and female employees
• The difference between the median hourly rate of pay for male and female employees
• The difference between the mean bonus paid to male and female employees
• The difference between the median bonus paid to male and female employees
• The proportion of male and female employees who were paid a bonus in the previous 12-month period
• The proportion of male and female employees in four notional pay bands (lower, lower middle, upper middle, upper)

Due to the definition of employee in the Equality Act 2010, recruitment businesses will need to include all workers on PAYE, including temporary workers. Some argue that the inclusion of temporary workers distorts a business’ gender pay gap. However, it’s important to note that the Government Equalities Office understands that any statistics on the gender pay gap are nuanced, and data alone cannot tell the full picture. 

As we all know the reasoning behind gender pay gaps are extremely complex and not always down to non-inclusive recruitment and progression practices. For example employment businesses supplying temporary workers to third parties do not decide the rate of pay for their temporary workers – however their fees impact the gender pay gap of the recruitment business and not the end client who decides the rate. The gender pay gap also varies according to where people live and the sector they work in.

In this respect a narrative report is incredibly useful for businesses to explain and highlight any gender imbalances which exist. This year the Government Equalities Office are keen to see more businesses include narrative reports with their reporting.

The REC recognises that gender pay reporting can be a huge administrative task for small agencies with large temporary workforce, but producing a narrative report doesn’t have to be a time consuming activity. Help and support on how to report is available to REC members in our legal guide.

REC's Kate Shoesmith will be part of a Women in Recruitment webinar on 28 March at 9am, along with the Government Equalities Office, talking about what the first year of gender pay reporting has told us, what happens next ahead of the 4 April deadline for the second year of reports, and what this all means for the recruitment industry. This webinar is open to all, and anyone can sign up here.