50 years of Equal Pay
Here we go again! Equal Pay Day. Every year, the Fawcett Society, a charity that campaigns for equality at work, calculates the day when women effectively work for free for the rest of the year. The Equality and Human Rights Commission and many others routinely mark this moment by calling for an end to pay discrimination. It’s 50 years since this law was passed and yet the problem shows no signs of abating. We have to do more than mark the moment.
Equal pay is one of many factors which contribute to the gender pay gap. National figures show women still earn less than men and the pay gap is even greater for ethnic minority women despite the concerted efforts of so many.
Few employers would agree that men should be paid more than women for doing a similar role. And yet that is what happens in many different industries across Britain. This sometimes goes unchallenged because organisations fail to take the few simple steps needed to understand pay equality or simply assume equal pay is a given for their organisation. This is a very short-sighted approach which can lead to vulnerability to equal pay claims.
In our recent investigation into equal pay at the BBC, we found that in the past the broadcaster used practices which increased the risk of equal pay claims such as:
- failing to keep proper records of pay decisions, leading to confusion and poor communication with women making complaints or simply trying to understand their pay.
- A decentralised pay system which gave too much discretion to managers, increasing the risk of pay discrimination.
- A complaints system that took too long to resolve cases, that some women did not feel was sufficiently independent and that heightened their anxiety and stress. This led to a breakdown in trust with women and significant public fall out.
It’s clear we have a lot of work ahead to address these practices, some of which you may recognise. Unfortunately poor practice is common in many workplaces. Indeed, the BBC have been working to rectify these practices since 2016 and have said that they are still on their improvement journey. Building integrity into every pay system is the only real way forward. Ignoring it and hoping the problem goes away isn’t an option for any employer who wants to maintain the trust of their people and customers.
So what can you do about it? Well, there are steps you can take now to ensure you both do the right thing and avoid putting yourself at risk of an equal pay claim.
It’s more than a data collection exercise; it entails a commitment to put right any issues you find.
To avoid taking the risk, I’d suggest you take the follow steps:
1. Check for risky practices such as a lack of transparency in your pay system. Transparency means providing enough information for managers and employees to understand how it operates.
2. Carry out an equal pay audit or review
3. Take action to resolve any issues and protect against future claims
If you’re a HR professional or in-house lawyer and want to find out more about Equal Pay, then please register for our webinar with equality experts in January. It’s your chance to ask questions about our recent BBC investigation into equal pay and any other burning questions you might have in an anonymous forum.
Let’s make this an anniversary to remember by taking a hard look at our pay systems to make sure we are doing all we can to value women and tackle pay discrimination. If we act decisively maybe we can make a real inroad into reducing the days that women effectively work for free every year – now that’s something I’d really like to see!