|
Proposed Reduction of the Gender Pay Gap at European Level |
|
|
|
The gender pay gap, which is the average difference in gross hourly earnings between women and men across the economy as a whole, currently remains at the high rate of 18 %. The UK pay gap at 21.4% is higher than the European average and equates to an under-utilisation of women’s skills in excess of £11bn a year. The European initiative may therefore have a significant impact for UK employers.
Together with the European partners, the European Commission will analyse the economic and social implications of the different options it considers: enhancing transparency on pay by providing better information to workers, encouraging the use of gender neutral job classifications and pay scales and making sanctions on breaches more dissuasive. Non-legislative as well as legislative methods could be used.
The European Commission will also support communication on the gender pay gap through statistics, the developments of new tools and the promotion of initiatives at the workplace. An example is the French label “Egalité professionnelle” which is already awarded in France to businesses for three years, providing they show their commitment to gender equality through areas such as scheduling, career development and internal promotion. Awareness-raising activities are essential to inform employers, employees and stakeholders why there is still a gender pay gap and how it can be reduced.
Some of these measures are already raised in the forthcoming Equality Bill, for example transparency and reporting. In particular the Bill reduces the scope of pay secrecy clauses ensuring there is more transparency and less opportunity for discrimination in pay. The Bill also contains a power for the Government to issue regulations requiring employers with 250 or more employees to publish information relating to gender pay, although it is not clear when or whether this power will be invoked.
The new EU strategy for gender equality for 2010-2015 will be published in the second half of 2010, coinciding with the coming into force of most provisions of the Equality Bill.
|
|
|
|
Current News
|
|
The FSA has today released a Consultation Paper, which contains proposed revisions to its Remuneration Code affecting pay in the financial services sector. The revisions are proposed to take effect from 1 January 2011 and will mean far more firms are brought within its ambit. ...
read full article >
|
There have recently been very well-publicised European developments restricting banking pay. However, the important thing to note is that all financial sectors (not just the banking sector) will, sooner or later, be affected by remuneration restrictions originating in European law and so this is just the start of wider changes across the industry....
read full article >
|
The Prime Minister and his deputy Nick Clegg unveiled their Coalition Agreement, “The Coalition: our programme for government”, on 20 May 2010. It expands the initial agreement reached in the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition negotiations on 11 May 2010. However, it lacks significant detail. The new Coalition Government states it will “review employment and workplace laws, for employers and employees, to ensure they maximise flexibility for both parties while protecting fairness and providing the competitive environment required for enterprise to thrive.” What this will mean in practice is currently unclear....
read full article >
|
Several new employment legislative changes are due to be introduced from 6 April 2010....
read full article >
|
The European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, Viviane Reding, has decided to take action to reduce the gender pay gap as part of a five-year strategy for gender equality. ...
read full article >
|
Jefferson Hunt Limited has been admitted as an International Member of the association of Professional Background Screeners and subscribes to their “code of ethics”....
read full article >
|
However the key issue in this week's show has to be the embellishment of the candidates’ CV’s....
read full article >
|
Dodgy CVs can be - literally - a matter of life and death for organisations. A survey by NDF Associates last month found that a third of NHS trusts had identified health workers who had used fake CVs....
read full article >
|
|
Industry Quotes |
|
|
|
“more than 7.5 million of Britain's 25.3 million working population have misled their potential employer while applying for a job.”
Mori .
|
|
Quote of the Week
|
|
|
|
“"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Nelson Mandela.”
Nelson Mandela
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
