Some 80 per cent of UK employers pay men more than women on average in their organisation, a percentage that has worsened since the start of the obligation. gender pay gap reporting six years ago.
The UK’s massive gender pay gap has also not budged at all over the past year, despite efforts by many companies, officials and industry regulators to narrow the gap.
An FT analysis of this year’s data shows that the average gap, or the difference between men’s and women’s median hourly wages, expressed as a percentage of men’s wages, was 12.2% in 2022-23 , compared to 11.9% in 2017-18. ; it remained unchanged from last year.
The data showed that 79.5 percent of employers had a gender pay gap favoring men in 2022-23, higher than figures collected last year and six years ago.
The lack of progress has disappointed advocates of fair pay and business groups. “Organizations think and say they are doing the right thing to promote gender equality in the workplace, but when it comes to taking action on the gender pay gap, the evidence suggests they are falling short,” said Ann Francke, CEO of Chartered. Management Institute.
The average pay gap for sectors like transportation and administration increased last year, but was highest among education employers. About half of the top 100 with the largest gender pay gaps in 2022-23 were in the sector and the median pay gap was 23.2 percent.
the financial sector it also had a particularly poor record, with an average gender pay gap of 22.7 percent in 2022-23, only slightly lower than last year and the highest after education employers.
Banks had the largest gap among finance companies that employed 20,000 or more. They include Lloyds Banking Group with 34.8 percent and NatWest Group with 31.6 percent. The gender pay gap at HSBC, which has a smaller workforce in its restricted UK business, jumped from 29 per cent in 2017-18 to 51.5 per cent in 2022-23.
In the accompanying gender pay reports, the banks admitted that the shortage of women in positions of responsibility had contributed to the great divide. “There are comparatively more women in junior roles and more men in higher-paid leadership roles. . . this is the main source of the overall pay gap, as the smaller number of senior women reduces the average pay of these colleagues,” Lloyds wrote.
NatWest said the gender pay gap was “largely driven by the structure of our workforce, and we are working to improve the balance of women in our senior leadership population.”
In a statement, HSBC said the pay gaps “show the extent to which women and staff of some ethnicities are underrepresented at the top and best paid and overrepresented at the bottom and lowest paid.”
He added: “The actions we are taking to improve representation across the organization will be reflected in our disclosures and, over time, this will narrow our gender pay gap.”
The gender pay gap was also high at many law firms; for example, it was 41.7 percent at Slaughter and May and 39.2 percent at the “magic circle” firm Linklaters.
Linklaters said there has been an increase “in the proportion of our most junior legal, secretarial and business roles held by women, which has had an impact on our gender pay gap.” He added that he was focused “on building a diverse pool of talent and increasing the number of women in our leadership positions.”
The UK government introduced legislation requiring all UK employers with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap in 2017. Although organizations have a year to submit their data, most choose to do so within days. after the April deadline and many do not. .
The FT analysis was based on 93 per cent of employers reporting their 2022-23 gender pay gap figures by the April 4 deadline, but data from previous years suggests the numbers will be close to final values.
The government has sought to promote gender balance more broadly in all companies, by monitoring the representation of women in leadership roles through the FTSE Women Leaders Review.
But Denise Wilson, chief executive of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, said a noticeable reduction was “unlikely”. [in the gender pay gap] until companies significantly increase the number of women appointed to high-level, well-paid positions.”
She added: “There is no shortage of capable women willing to take on bigger roles. Removing bias from the recruitment process remains key to progress, along with a more female-friendly work culture, equitable parenting, and affordable childcare.”