It’s been an ongoing conversation, but recent news from HR Review has stated that the Government will be launching a £1.5 million fund to help tackle the gender pay gap.
The Government will be offering grants to projects which help people to return to work in the private sector. These projects could help returners update their skills, provide other training, or support businesses to increase employment opportunities for returners – this is part of the government’s wider strategy to help close the gender pay gap.
What’s the difference between gender pay gap and equal pay?
From our last equal pay day post, we highlighted that women were paid 14.1% less than their male counterparts. Not to get the two confused. Here’s the definition of the two according to the CIPD website:
The gender pay gap is calculated by taking all employees in an organisation and comparing the average pay between men and women.
Equal pay rules outlaw pay differences in men and women’s pay for same or similar work.
By this definition, it is possible to treat females workers fairly in terms of pay AND have a large gender pay gap. Make sense?
Some best practises which CIPD recommend to address inequalities between men and women in the workplace were:
The wider availability of flexible working
The elimination of discrimination against part-time workers
Building an awareness within the business of other barriers to the progress of women
One notable practise from Easyjet’s male CEO, according to The Independent, was reducing his salary by £34,000 to match his female predecessor, in order to show his personal commitment for the cause.
If you’d like more information on the current news of the gender pay gap and equal pay, have a look at some of these articles: