Female employees are more likely to not have had a pay discussion with their manager, according to research from XpertHR and Executive Networks.
A quarter of female employees surveyed said they had not had a salary conversation with their manager, compared with 16% of men.
More than three-quarters (76%) of male employees said that they have a good understanding of how pay is determined at their organisations, but only 61% of female employees said the same.
Last year, the government launched a pilot encouraging employers to list salary details on adverts in a bid to tackle pay inequality, but this was recently shelved.
Researchers argue that being more transparent about pay, including advertising salary ranges or providing information for existing employees about how their pay is decided, can help close the gender pay gap.
Pay transparency
Sharp fall in salary transparency in job ads
XpertHR’s survey found that half of managers thought communicating the factors that influence pay to employees was the biggest challenge in addressing pay transparency.
However, 63% of organisations already train managers on how to have pay transparency conversations, it found. A third did not.
Zara Nanu, CEO of Gapsquare, part of XpertHR, said: “When organisations look inwards, empowering managers with the right data insights enables them to host pay discussions with confidence.
“The right data insights also enable organisations to create a culture that moves pay discussions away from a solely HR issue into one that engages the entire workforce in a comfortable and open discussion.”
Jeanne Meister, EVP, Executive Networks added: “There is no doubt that pay transparency is a top priority for top-performing organisations. Ensuring your organisation has the necessary understanding of how to tackle fair pay practices is not a competitive action – it is a business imperative.
“Without effectively and transparently communicating pay determinants and salary ranges, employees are left in the dark on pay structures, compounding the gender pay gap further.
“Looking ahead, leaders must narrow the divide between how transparency measures are perceived amongst employees and managers and create a framework that aligns the entire workforce.”
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In May, job search engine Adzuna found that there had been a sharp fall in the proportion of jobs advertised including salary information.
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