Today is Equal Pay Day – the day in the year where women in the UK effectively stop earning due to the gender pay gap. This year, the day falls two days earlier than 2023 – with the gap definitively widening for the first time since 2013.
Equal Pay Day is calculated by the Fawcett Society using the mean, full-time hourly gender pay gap. This year it is 11.3%, up from 10.4% last year.
Several factors contribute to the gender pay gap, such as women being overlooked for promotion opportunities into senior roles and unequal share of unpaid caring responsibilities – which has a higher impact due to high childcare costs and lack of flexible working options.
Alarmingly, the gender pay gap compounds throughout women’s lives, with the pension gap currently at 40.5%.
Cause(s) for concern
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has found that at current rates of progress it will take at least another 20 years to close the gender pay gap. And with the gap regressing for the first time in over a decade, clearly urgent action needs to be taken.
Jemima Olchawski, Chief Executive of the Fawcett Society, said:
“It’s incredibly alarming to see the mean gender pay gap widen in 2024 and shows that without concerted effort most women won’t see equal pay in our working lifetime.”
“Too often, organisations shy away from confronting the issue of the gender pay gap,” adds Becky Wallace, Chief People Officer at LearnUpon. “However, clearly more needs to be done to address the matter head on.
“To do so, organisations need to implement company-wide conversations and initiatives to reduce the pay gap. This will be crucial to building an inclusive culture that young women can excel in.”
Change starts at the top
As the saying goes, you can only change what you can measure. Initiatives to close the gender pay gap will not be successful unless organisations recognise the biases and obstacles that women in the workplace face.
LearnUpon’s Wallace suggests,
“Organisations should roll out unconscious bias training that equips managers with the mindset and thinking to recognise biases and make conscious changes. This will ensure any bottlenecks to women’s progress are addressed.
“Managers and senior leaders would also benefit from specific training on equal pay laws and regulations. This will ensure they understand and uphold these principles.”
Alex Pusenjak, VP People and Culture at Fluent Commerce, agrees that change needs to come from the top.
“The first step to ensuring gender and pay equity in your organisation is to educate your leadership team on what it is and why it’s important, before you get to the ‘how’.
“It is really important to make the ‘business case’ for DE&I so that it is ‘baked into everything’ from the beginning. That way the accountability lies with everyone, rather than trying to create a program and implementing it on your own.”
Collective, concerted effort
After years of slow progress, this year’s widening gender pay gap highlights the systemic challenges that persist in achieving pay equity.
Lindsay Gallard, Chief People Officer at Six Degrees, warns:
“Without our collective commitment to changing things for the better, there is too great a risk that hard-won gains will be eroded.”
He pledges to,
“Continue to advocate for policies and practices that promote fairness and equality in the workplace. However, we all, as industry leaders, must leverage our influence to drive meaningful change at every stage of the employee lifecycle and in every facet of our working practices.
“We believe that transparent policies, robust DEI initiatives, and tailored workforce management are crucial steps towards closing this gap. Implementing comprehensive pay audits, fostering an inclusive culture, and supporting flexible working arrangements are just some of the ways we can create a more equitable society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. We all have a moral obligation to do so – and we have the means.”
Pusenjak suggests joining up with like-minded companies.
“If your organisation is committed to gender equity and provides a flexible and supportive environment for men and women, seek out organisations to partner with that align with your values. For us, those organisations are ‘Girls in Tech’ and Work180, where we’ve been endorsed as a great workplace for women.”
“DE&I isn’t an ‘issue’ for the CEO or the Senior Leadership Team to ‘resolve’ – it’s everyone’s responsibility,” he concludes. “Systems and processes have to be adopted where everyone has accountability to ensure employees are being remunerated fairly and equally, regardless of their gender and this needs to be assessed at regular intervals to enable real change to be made.”
