Campaign launched to speed up gender pay gap reporting

05 May 2021

Major businesses and equality campaigners are backing a new campaign by pay gap specialist Spktral to speed up the gender pay gap reporting process.

The Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting legislation came into force in April 2017, when employers were given nearly a year to digest what they had to do and do it. However, anxiety around the process and the feeling that it was like a time-consuming tax return led many to leave it until the very last minute.

Since then, the legal requirement to report has been suspended (2020), extended (2021), and so, four years into the process the impact is not what it should have been.

Says Spktral:

“The pandemic is having a disproportionate impact on women due to care responsibilities, furlough, job losses, etc. Now, more than ever, organisations need to understand how the representation of women and men throughout their workforce is changing so that they can take the necessary steps to address and avert inequalities. Aside from this being the right thing to do, there are countless studies evidencing the benefits of a more diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace. Gender Pay Gap analysis and reporting should not be suspended or delayed any longer.”

Organisations with 250 or more employees must submit their gender pay gap report to the government every year (30 March for public sector and 4 April for Private and third sector employers).

Most employers should have all the information they need to produce their gender pay gap figures by the beginning of May. However, in previous years the majority of organisations delayed publishing this data until very close to the deadline.

According to Spktral, in 2018 less than 2% of organisations submitted their report before the end of July. This figure is startlingly low and it is important to note that an organisation could produce their report earlier but wait until April to publish it. However, this is a missed opportunity for organisations to be transparent about their situation, before implementing action plans and changing things that will speed up progress on improving representation in their workforce.

In order for employers to get the most out of their pay gap reporting, Spktral is challenging employers to reset their timeline: start thinking about this today, get the analysis done over the next couple of months with the aim to submit their report and publish their narrative and action plan by 31 July.

Spktral is encouraging employers to do their reporting sooner, better, and more:

Sooner: Start this now and speed up progress on closing pay gaps. You should have all the information you need to start your GPG analysis today.
Better: Improve this whole process by shifting your focus away from just reporting and pay gap percentages and towards outcomes, representation, action plans and progress.
More: Think bigger than gender pay gaps – your stakeholders already are. Show your commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace and look at what you need to do to start analysing characteristics like ethnicity, disability and sexuality.

Read the full guidance at https://www.spktral.com/resetthetimeline/