Hopefully these examples help demonstrate the process you can follow.
Lights, Camera, Action (Plans)
The GEO now recommends that you add a supporting narrative and employer action plan to your gender pay gap report. The supporting narrative can run throughout the report to explain your view on why gender pay gaps exist in your organisation and what you’ve done so far to change that.
Publishing your action plan is a very public commitment to improving your gender pay gap. This is important, but remember if you are going to talk-the-talk in your pay gap report, make sure you walk-the-walk by making real improvements for your employees.
Spktral’s Top 3 Tips for Gender Pay Gap Reporting in 2021
1. Ensure your data is accurate
One of the first stages in our gender pay gap reporting process is to walk our clients through a thorough data audit and cleanse. This is an often overlooked, but vital first step in pay gap analysis and reporting. This is business intelligence; you shouldn't be making decisions with inaccurate data.
When you’re compiling a spreadsheet full of HR and payroll data, you run the risk of human error and of making mistakes. Without validating the raw data and comparing that to the calculated output you may introduce inaccurate hourly rates to your pay gap summary.
2. Don’t panic if your Gender Pay Gap is markedly different from last time
There is growing uncertainty among organisations who are getting ready to do their gender pay gap report over how the impact of Covid-19 will affect their figures. Furloughed employees, medical absence and redundancies will all affect the results and it may materially change the figures. So, what should you do? We recommend:
- Narrate it showing the change in numbers of employees.
- Perform a quick 'what if' scenario by topping up all your furloughed staff back up to 100 per cent and see how this affects the results – you can then narrate what your figures would have been without furlough before describing what they are due to furlough.
- Look at the difference in representation between furloughed and normal staff - have we made biased decisions? Are we putting pressure on specific types of people?
3. Submit your 2019 Gender Pay Gap Report
If you have already completed your gender pay gap report from the snapshot date in 2019 (which would have been due in 2020 had the legal requirement not been suspended) but have refrained from submitting, we encourage you to reconsider this. It is important to note that at the time of writing, you are not legally required to do this. However, this has never mattered more to your current and future talent, customers and investors. Your gender pay gap report is a major focus for these key stakeholders; don’t miss this opportunity to build their trust and increase transparency. This will be even more important if/when you begin ethnicity pay gap reporting, where disclosure rates are dependent on a culture of trust and excellent communication.
If you are in the slightly different position of not having started/completed last year’s gender pay gap report, we also encourage you to revisit this. Not only for the cultural imperatives of transparency and trust previously discussed, but to also complete your data set. Having a one-year gap will prevent you from seeing the full picture of your organisation. Revisit last year's report and gain a more accurate insight as to how the representation of women and men has changed in your organisation.
Start making better people decisions with your diversity data
Gender pay gap analysis is vital business intelligence, especially in this uncertain, fast-changing societal and business environment. Aside from the legal obligation, there are many benefits to organisations undertaking gender pay gap analysis. Researchers at McKinsey have warned that the pandemic could reverse progress on gender equality, so pay gap analysis is vital to understand how the representation of women has changed and is changing.