Gender pay – does it stack up in your business?
An increasingly sensitive issue, gender pay differences in your workplace could come under scrutiny. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman. Make sure you’re prepared with this quick guide to the changes in the law this year:
The Gender Pay Gap is an equality measure that shows the difference in average earnings between men and women.
It is not the same as Equal Pay, which relates to the difference in pay between men and women performing the SAME job, SIMILAR job or work of EQUAL value.
Since 6 April 2017, companies who employ 250 or more employees are now required to publish their Gender Pay Gap and Gender Bonus Gap on an annual basis. This Gender Pay Gap Report shows the difference in the AVERAGE pay between men and women in the workforce
.
Gender Pay Gap Reports will be publicly available on each company’s website
|  | Companies must also publish their results on a government website |
Businesses with less than 250 employees
While the threshold at the moment for the legal requirement to submit a report is 250 employees or more, we recommend that all small companies conduct an internal review looking at any gender pay imbalances.
This will prepare you should your headcount take you over the threshold and will flag up any pay imbalances that may lead to any employee making a complaint.
If you employ workers through an agency, those workers will not in this instance count towards your own headcount. Instead, the agency supplying those workers will include those workers in their own report.
Other complexities include how to count job shares or part time workers and the gender identity of your employees. Clockwork HR can guide you on this.
Although intended to promote equality between men and women, the results published to date in Gender Pay Gay reports have been deemed “misleading” by some because:
- More women work part time, earning less than those working in the same company on a full time basis
- It is said that women are less likely to work their way up ladder to more senior roles which pay more
- A higher percentage of women take jobs that offer less financial reward (e.g. administration)
Nevertheless, this is the current framework for identifying inequality.
Government guide
The government has created its voluntary Think, Act, Report initiative to address gender equality in the workplace. It helps you identify ways to close the gender pay
gap in your organisation and provides useful case studies. You can sign up at
To discuss any issues relating to pay, call us at Clockwork HR to get timely advice to keep you within the law and following best practice.