As large employers reach the deadline for reporting their 2018 gender pay gap next week, research among middle and senior managers has shown that two fifths (41%) were unaware whether their organisation published their GPG.
A survey of 940 UK managers by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found that, despite the GPG reporting requirements entering their second year, managers in the public sector were more likely to report that no action was required as there was no gender pay gap – 31% in the public sector, compared to 17% in the private sector.
Regardless of employer size, awareness was low. Only 37% of managers were aware that their organisation published their gender pay gap, and knew what their organisation’s gap was.
There were no difference in female and male managers’ awareness of their organisation’s gender pay gap.
Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI, said: “Despite all the talk, there’s still too little action in the workplace to close the gender pay gap. It’s disappointing that so little is being done to address even with the reporting requirements.
“It’s time for transparency with teeth, including mandatory action plans and progress reports, in line with the UK governance code, as well as consequences for those organisations that don’t comply.”
Overall, 32% of managers in large organisations reported that their organisation had developed an action plan to tackle the gender pay gap; 12% stated that no action plan had been developed; 19% stated that no action plan had been developed as there was no pay gap to tackle; and 37% stated that they did not know.
Male managers in large public sector organisations were more likely to say that an action plan had not been developed as there was not a pay gap (41%) than women in large public sector organisations (17%).
Personnel Today analysis of gender pay gap data submitted to the government up to 15 March 2019, showed that on average the gap in median hourly pay between men and women had improved by -0.49%, among the 2,062 employers.
Employers with more than 250 employees have until Sunday 31 March (public sector) or Thursday 4 April 2019 (private sector) to publish their gender pay gap data.
