Equality, diversity and inclusion Gender Equal pay Family-friendly working Recruitment & retention

Ban salary history questions: Andrew Bazeley talks to Oven-Ready HR

by Chris Taylor 18 Mar 2022

by Chris Taylor 18 Mar 2022 Andrew Bazeley

One of the key themes of Oven-Ready over the last couple of seasons has been to explore issues that affect women in the workplace and this week we look at, among other things, whether it’s right to be asking salary history questions in the recruitment process.

I’ve discussed gender equality with Romanie Thomas in Season 3 – and recently in this season I talked to the folks from Kooth the online wellbeing experts about how organisations can support women at work during the menopause.

This week I’ve turned to the Fawcett Society, the UK’s leading gender equality charity campaigning for women’s rights at home, at work and in public life.

The origins of the Fawcett Society date back to 1866 when politician Dame Millicent Fawcett started her peaceful campaign for women’s suffrage. Today, the Fawcett Society is helping to shape and lead the debate on a number of key work place issues including:

Pay and the progression of women of colour in the workplace
Mitigating the impact of the menopause to enable women to remain in work and progress into senior leadership roles
Ensuring equal pay legislation is properly implemented and women’s pay matches their male colleagues
Encouraging employers to stop asking about past and future salary expectations during the recruitment process

Joining me to discuss is Andrew Bazeley. Andrew is the Fawcett Society’s policy, insight and public affairs manager. Andrew joined Fawcett in 2016 and works across the breadth of issues the charity campaigns on.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Is UK legislation surrounding gender equality specific enough and are the existing laws actually enforced?
Why after 50 years or so are we still seeing numerous and high-profile equal pay claims?
Is a lack of transparency surrounding pay a factor in pay inequality?
Why sectors that contain a greater proportion of women than men often suffer from lower pay.
Why salary history questions should be banned at any stage in the recruitment process.
Why the lack of flexibility for women returning to work after maternity puts women at a huge disadvantage.