HR news briefing News and analysis
what April means for you
Financial firms paying men 25% more than women
What you should know:
UK financial firms that
published their gender pay
gaps from 2019 reported they
have risen to 23.1% from
22.2% in 2017.
HSBC’S gender pay gap is at
47.8% for the second year in
a row. The bank reasoned this
is because there are fewer
women in senior leadership.
In a statement HSBC said:
‘It will take time to redress
the imbalance and the
results of our work today
may not fully be realised
until today’s pipeline of new
joiners becomes tomorrow’s
business leaders’.
Between 2017 and 2019
Lloyds Bank and Santander’s
UK retail operations closed
their pay gap by more than
2%, but are still above the
sector average at 40.5% and
26.6% respectively. The Cooperative
Bank reported a
22.6% gap and NatWest a
34.1% gender pay gap.
Helena Louise Morrissey,
a British financier and
campaigner, argued that
some firms are simply
complying with the law, with
“woolly or non-existent” plans
to improve.
“I think the initial year
of naming and shaming has
become a blunted instrument
because so many have such
a bad gender pay gap
number,” said Morrissey.
She added: “Personally
I feel it is very hard to engineer
the closing of the gap,
because even if you attract
women in if they are not
happy in the industry they
will leave.”
What you should do:
Sheila Flavell, chief
operating officer at FDM
Group, said HR
departments must
understand that the
problem of pay disparity
between men and women is
still prevalent.
Flavell suggested that
HR should base salary offers
on the value the position
brings to the company and
not on what the candidate
earned previously.
“Organisation leaders
should regularly analyse their
annual pay reports and
establish if pay is based on
relevant variables, rather than
just gender,” she said.
Flavell stated tackling this
ongoing challenge requires a
concerted effort at all levels of
management, but with
appropriate assistance
women can be given equal
opportunities, benefits and
pay as their male counterparts.
Our pick of HR online
The post #MeToo workplace: What’s really changed?
While addressing sexual harassment has had an empowering
effect, the #MeToo movement can only go so far. Lawyers,
business experts and HR professionals agree we must keep
working on gender equality.
bit.ly/postmetoo
UK income inequality greater than
previously thought
Revised government figures for income inequality
have reportedly shown that the divide was as much as
2.4 percentage points
higher on average
than figures had
suggested over the
decade since the
financial crisis in 2008.
bit.ly/UKincome
inequality
The
month in
numbers
Radical
transparency is
needed in
the workplace
Obstructing honest
feedback will result in
simmering disputes
between different
teams and
departments, said
chief executive and
founder of ViewsHub
Ab Banerjee.
bit.ly/honestemployee
feedback
17% of UK
employees
think Brexit
will have a
negative impact on
their jobs
(Gartner)
73% shop online while
at work and 19%
browse dating websites
(Specops)
5% of all
professionals
in data
science-related
roles are
women
(BCG)
78% frequently use
their workissued
device for
personal
activities
(Specops)
69%
of British
workers
say they
have lied
at work
(Viking)
hrmagazine.co.uk April 2020 HR 9
/hrmagazine.co.uk