Brick by brick
More than 100 UK organisations have pledged to lead the way in closing the pay gap between the sexes. But what do they have in mind to improve women’s opportunities?
Female graduates are getting a worse deal at work than they did in 1995, according to Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) research due out later this month.
The proportion of female graduates in the lowest-level jobs has more than doubled in 10 years from 5.4 per cent to 13.2 per cent, the report, Poor Returns: Winners and Losers in the Job Market, reveals.
And the number of women in the highest-level jobs fell from 64.9 per cent in 1995 to 45.3 per cent in 2005.
The fall comes despite an increase in women graduating in subjects such as business, law and science over the 10-year period.
This is the latest research to demonstrate that female workers are still getting a raw deal. But new efforts are under way to rectify the situation. Last month Ruth Kelly, minister for women, launched a drive to step up efforts to reduce the gender pay gap. She announced that more than 100 companies had signed up to an “exemplar employer” scheme to improve job opportunities for women. Those involved include Asda, Goldman Sachs, Royal Mail and the Ministry of Defence.
The scheme forms part of the government’s response to last year’s Women and Work Commission report into the causes of the pay gap between the sexes, which requires UK employers to “give a clear commitment to reducing the gender pay gap”.
The reasons for signing up are compelling. On average, women working full-time in the UK are paid 17 per cent less than men, although according to the Greater London Authority’s recent report, Women in London’s Economy, the situation is far worse in the capital, with full-time male workers earning 23 per cent more than their female counterparts.
Likewise, at the beginning of the year the EOC’s annual Sex and Power survey revealed that women accounted for a mere 10 per cent of directors of FTSE-100 firms. The number of female directors has dropped from 20 to 12 since the previous year.
Charles Cotton, CIPD adviser, reward, says employers could take many different approaches to bridging the pay gap. “One area is to have better links with local schools and colleges. This involves explaining to people that male-dominated careers are just as open to women. Another area would be to check the reward system and see how decisions are made. You need to ask yourself if they are based on the needs of the organisation or if they are prejudiced and biased.”
Annabel Smith, head of diversity (Europe) at Goldman Sachs, says signing up to the scheme was an opportunity to develop existing programmes as well as “to dispel some of the misconceptions that women have about the [investment banking] industry and illustrate the huge diversity of roles that exist”.
Goldman Sachs has been running a range of programmes for female sixth-formers and university students since 2000, aimed at highlighting the opportunities available to women and to put them in touch with women already working in the industry.
When it comes to retaining and developing existing female employees, Smith says: “We make sure that diversity considerations are integrated into all our key business and people processes. Accountability and leadership commitment are as vital as ensuring that we are communicating our efforts and making them visible.”
Initiatives include career development reviews, conducted for all employees but with “specific attention” given to “historically under-represented groups, such as women”, a women’s network, leadership development conferences for women and maternity training for managers.
Smith concedes that progress in the investment banking industry is slow: “It is not at the pace we would like but it’s gradual and everyone right from the top is focused on improving on that. Being a meritocracy is vital.
“It’s hugely important that our population reflects the community in which we operate. Women are a large part of our future so they need to be well represented at every level. We also need to be in tune with an increasingly diverse client base,” Smith adds.
Sally Hopson, central operations director at Asda and an employer representative on the Women and Work Commission, says signing up to the exemplar employer scheme was a way “to continue Asda’s commitment and involvement in the process to bridge the pay gap”.
She adds that there “is not one easy solution” but collectively those signed up “can find ways to help move things on”.
“If we can find a successful route we will share that with other organisations. This is not about just finding a business advantage for us,” Hopson adds.
Asda has recently decided to roll out its Careers for Kids initiative, in which experts from Connexions, the government agency set up to provide careers advice to young people, deliver careers advice sessions for staff and their children.
“Girls in particular are making stereotypical decisions in terms of where they go with their careers and parents are often unwittingly out of date in their thinking,” Hopson explains. “We wanted to help parents help their children to make more informed decisions.”
Hopson also reveals that next year Asda plans to open up the initiative to customers.
“We have a huge captive audience – 40 million people a week come through our doors – and we want to exploit that opportunity. We’re not a school or the government and are a non-threatening source of advice.”
Asda has also embarked on a programme to increase the number of part-time managers, with a particular focus on women.
Hopson explains: “We have thousands of part-time colleagues but a much lower number of part-time managers. While in our policies there is nothing to stop them being managers, it is not happening on the ground as much as we would like.”
The exemplar employers scheme demonstrates that organisations are willing to change, and they are indeed making progress – but as the pay gap refuses to go away, they must keep up their efforts.
One company that is breaking the mould
One organisation that signed up as an exemplar employer – Women Builders – was originally set up to allow women to pursue a career that may not previously have been available to them.
Founder Janet Shelley explains: “I had been working in the IT sector but decided I wanted to change career and go into the building trade. At that time there was no funding available for training women over the age of 25, so I decided to set up my own building company. The response we got was great.”
Shelley was able to secure financial support from the European Social Fund and the building company now offers training to women who would like to enter the industry. Other perks of working for the organisation, according to Shelley, include a regular income and working schedule.
She explains: “Most of the people that come to me for jobs are over the age of 25, so they often have family commitments and therefore need a salary. They also like to know the hours they are going to be working. The normal building trade can involve very early mornings and irregular hours, so it can be difficult to sort out childcare.
“I think it’s a popular career choice but women don’t take it up because the minute they speak to someone about it, they laugh. It’s because it’s not the norm.
“It’s so important that if people have an urge to do something, they can see there is an avenue to pursue it,” Shelley adds.
Lucy Phillips
Issue date: 22 February 2007
Source: People Management magazine
