Lawyers Warn That ‘Attitudes Need to Change’ To Tackle Gender Pay Gap

Eliminating the problem in the UK’s workplaces will only happen if employers start to recognise the structural and cultural issues that need to be tackled alongside.

A recent report found that despite firms now legally having to disclose information on the pay difference between their male and female staff, the gap between salaries in the public sector has actually widened.

With new employment law regulations coming into force from April 6 and with Equal Pay Day taking place this week, firms need to shine a spotlight on their practices, according to Prettys.

Women can often lag behind male colleagues in earning power because of a number of factors, said Matthew Cole, employment partner at Prettys.

“Perhaps the main reason there is a pay gap is the fact that workplaces have still not made the necessary adjustments to allow women to pick up their careers effectively following a break for maternity leave, or to bring up children,” he said.

“Whilst employers are making increasing efforts to put into place family-friendly working policies, many of these will take years to bear fruit, and the attitude among many employers has not yet shifted far enough.”

Since last year companies with 250 or more employees have had to report their gender pay gaps at the end of their financial year (March 30 for public sector organisations).

The reporting looks at the overall pay gap in an organisation. It is different to equal pay which looks at employers paying men and women differently for performing the same role or ‘work of equal value’ and which is legally enforceable.

Almost nine in ten (88.5%) of public sector organisations have reported a gap in favour of men. The private sector has until tomorrow (Thursday April 4) to file its figures to the Government.

While Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay have been in effect since 2015, Matthew added that from his experience women are still taking far more leave than men.

But he added that it is not just about maternity leave: “Clearly the pattern of flexible working to support childcare and similar responsibilities is evidence that women undertake the large majority of caring responsibilities outside the workplace, and this seems to inhibit career progression for women.

“In our experience SPL is hardly ever taken up by men. There are many reasons why this could be, including society’s expectations or that men do not actually want the time off, choosing instead to disrupt just one career instead of two.” 

But he added: “There are also other, cultural issues, which are only just gaining more mainstream attention. There is evidence that men may over-value their worth, whilst women under-value their contribution. This means that men may push harder for career and pay progression, when compared to an equally (or more) competent woman.”

And he concluded: “I think the pay gap will only be narrowed over a very long period of time by changing employment practices and attitudes.”

Vanessa Bell, partner and Prettys’ head of employment, warned that while there may be no legal implications as long as the pay gap is reported properly, a significant difference between earnings could impact future recruitment.

“I think decision-makers have to look at the gender pay gap from a business perspective, not just out of a sense of legal or moral duty,” she said.

“It’s all well and good a business revealing its pay gap, but if these businesses don’t take action to address it, they could lose out on recruiting or retaining good staff.

 “Talented women may disregard the company and choose not to apply for vacancies based on a perception – that may be misguided – that women are not valued in the business.”

The Government is currently looking at other areas of concern over equality in the workplace, such as pay gap reporting in regard to race, Matthew explained.

“It is currently just a proposal but is proving controversial as a lot depends on a person’s self-identification of what their race is.”

And he added: “There will be more categories than simply male or female, but we are already seeing some isolated examples of voluntary reporting.

“And if you’re looking at race, why not look at pay gaps with other things such as sexual orientation and age? There is still plenty to think about.”