How to tackle the gender pay gap report in payroll
- September 5, 2023
- Posted by: Hannah Ingram
- Category: Pay, Reward & Benefits
Gender Pay Gap
Understanding your obligations, for the gender pay gap report, is the first step to staying compliant and setting yourself apart as a business that commits to pay equality.
In this blog we explore the What, When and Why of the gender pay gap report, plus extra statistics and tips to help you.
First up, some new insights from a new gender pay gap report for 2024 has found that women effectively work for free for 7 weeks of the year due to the gender pay gap!
A 5th of employers have ignored gender pay gap obligations
A staggering 5th of employers has admitted to ignoring gender pay gap reporting according to the CIPD pay, performance and transparency report released 27th February 2024, despite the legal obligation to do so. With a further 18% surveyed saying that they didn’t know if their organisation had reported gender pay when required.
Do I need to produce the gender pay gap report?
From a compliance point of view, your payroll provider will need to submit and publish a gender pay gap report if you have 250 employees or more and for each ‘legal entity.’ However, there is nothing to stop you, as an organisation of under 250 employees, from reporting this internally, publishing these publicly and working on solutions too.
When do I need to report the gender pay gap?
Understanding snapshot dates for gender pay gap reporting
The gender pay gap report is based on a snapshot date each year. This ensures consistency amongst all submitting organisations.
The snapshot dates for gender pay gap reporting is currently 31st March for most public sector employers with a different date of 5th April for private, voluntary and all other public authority employers. Therefore, your gender gap reporting year-on-year needs to be taken from your snapshot date.
Public sector employers include most government departments & local authorities, the armed forces, NHS bodies, universities, and the majority of schools.
Gender Pay Gap reporting deadlines:
The deadline for reporting and publishing your gender pay gap report sits within a year of your snapshot date which are 30th March and 4th April respectively based on the snapshot dates above.
The benefits of reporting early
Given the length of time between the snapshot date and the reporting deadline it’s tempting to leave this task to one side. But here are some advantages of getting ahead of the game:
Gathering data early-on helps you identify and fix any missing data
- You can communicate easier with employees if you need extra information
- You have time to resolve any unexpected issues or complications that arise
- You have more time to tackle your gender pay gap which will improve your organisation’s reputation
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What to report in your gender pay gap figures
You need to calculate the % of men and women in each hourly pay quarter. In addition other mandatory calculations include:
Mean (average) and median gender pay gap for hourly pay
Bonus pay – % of men and women receiving these and the mean and median gender pay gap for bonus pay too.
To help you with reporting you’ll want to split your employees up by relevant and full-time relevant employees.
Relevant employees are defined as those who have a contract of employment including part-time, on-leave and job-sharing members of staff.
Relevant employees also includes self-employed members of staff where they always perform the work themselves (rather than their own employed members of staff).
Exclusions include employees who weren’t paid their usual amount due to annual leave, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave or similar.
The benefits of working on your gender pay gap in a company under 250+ employees
Beyond the legal requirements, if you are spending time on gender pay gap reporting you’ll want to justify the payroll admin involved to your leaders and wider team.
Here’s some of the ways working on closing your gender pay gap can tangibly help your company when you have a glowing gender pay gap report:
- Great gains to your reputation impressing customers and attracting positive PR
- You’ll find it easier to retain your top female leaders and team players.
- You may gain a hiring advantage over your competitors
- Enjoying an innovation boost through diversity amongst all levels of your business.
- You show you are a transparent company (if you go beyond the requirements). This will impress your team as well as those outside your organisation.
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Why is the gender pay gap still relevant in 2023?
Although there have been great gains in terms of the gender pay gap it will currently take more than 20 years to close the gap.
The average woman in paid employment effectively works for free for nearly 2 months of the year compared with the average man according to TUC.
The gender pay gap by industry
The gender pay gap can be wider in male dominated industries and in certain parts of the country.
The gender pay gap in the UK (2022) was a staggering 31% in the Financial and Insurance sector and 22% in education.
You can help to close the gender pay gap by creating inclusive hiring practices. Certain language used in job ads has been found to put off female applicants such as “exhaustive” and “fearless.”
In addition, by offering learning and development opportunities, to all employees, you can provide upskilling opportunities that help your people and the business. You can also help your high potential women by helping them to develop leadership skills too.
How will pay gap reporting evolve in the future?
We’ll explore the ways you can go further with your payroll data when it comes to pay gaps.
Companies are already voluntarily publishing their ethnicity pay gap reports to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
💙 How outsourced payroll can help with the gender pay gap 💙
Partnering with an outsourced payroll provider allows experts to spot extra issues and opportunities within your payroll data that you may not have spotted.
In addition, there may be extra complexities around employees who don’t receive basic pay or receive irregular pay every month. Outsourced payroll providers often have gained experience in working in different business structures, which can be advantageous.
If you’re venturing into gender pay gap reporting due to your expanding business or to explore ways to promote your business then we’re happy to chat about the process with you.
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Please note that the information in this blog was created based on the integrity of reputable links at the time of publishing. These blogs should be used for guidance only, you should always check information further before taking action as sources may update over time. Talk Staff holds no responsibility for implementation or loss
Last Updated on 2 months by Hannah Ingram
