Women work for free for one hour and forty minutes a day, according to new gender pay gap data from the Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR.
The annual salary survey found that women working in full-time roles earn 22% less than men, meaning they work 100 minutes per day, or the equivalent of 57 working days every year, for free.
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Across all professional roles, the gender pay gap stands at £8,524 – men earn, on average, £39,136 per year, while women earn £30,612. This is slightly smaller than in 2014, when the gender pay gap was 23%, or just over £9,000.
At director level, the pay gap rises, however. Male directors earn an average of £138,699 compared with the female average of £123,756.
Male managers also receive almost double the bonus of female managers, at an average of £4,898 compared to £2,531.
The CMI/Xpert survey also reveals that the pay gap widens as women get older. Women aged 26 to 35 were paid 6% less than their male colleagues, but this rose to 20% for those aged 36 to 45, and 35% for women aged 46 to 60.
This is reflected in the lack of older women in senior positions. Women comprise 67% of the workforce in entry-level roles, but female representation drops to 43% at senior management level.
Mark Crail, XpertHR’s content director, said: “An entire generation has now worked its way through from school leaver to retirement since the first equal pay legislation came into effect in 1970.
“But the gender pay gap persists, and many employers still prefer not to know just how bad it is in their organisation rather than getting to grips with the data and doing something about it.”
Crail added that HR and reward specialists have a “special responsibility” to address the pay gap and move it up the management agenda.
Ann Francke, chief executive of the CMI, said that the Government’s proposed legislation to make gender pay gap reporting compulsory for large companies was “good news for business”.
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She added: “Transparency is a powerful driver for closing the gender pay gap. Clearer employee data, improved recruitment and a reinvigorated focus on business culture will help unblock the talent pipeline and support more women to become senior managers and leaders.”
The CMI’s recommendations to help employers close the gender pay gap are:
- Check your data processes – can you report on and analyse gender pay data?
- Segment your workforce – are there gaps at different levels of seniority?
- Align pay and pipeline data – assess whether there are barriers to women reaching senior roles.
- Track changes – use data from multiple years, rather than a one-year snapshot.
- Set targets – and use them to monitor progress and drive change.
- Review starting salaries – do your recruitment processes create a gender pay problem from the outset?
- Start reporting – publishing gender pay data shows a commitment to fairness to all employees.
- Change outdated cultures – flexible working and mentoring are among the ways of retaining and developing employees of both sexes.
