Background
In 2017, the Government introduced the Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations which require employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory calculations every year, showing how large the pay gap in their organisation is between their male and female employees. A positive pay gap indicates that men are paid more than women and a negative pay gap that women are paid more than men.
Like many organisations Rotherham Metropolitan Council utilises Job evaluation and a common grading structure to ensure that like work is remunerated consistently regardless of the job holder’s gender.
The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and women in a workforce regardless of job role. The smaller the value of the gap, the more equal the pay gap is between genders. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate there may be a number of issues to deal with and individual calculations may help to identify what those issues are.
The Council has up to 12 months following the annual snapshot date of 31 March, to publish this information on the Council and Government website. The deadline to report on details taken at the snapshot date of 31 March 2023 for public sector employers is 31 March 2024.
The Council has chosen to include a narrative with its calculations to explain the reasons for the results and details of actions being taken to reduce or eliminate the gender pay gap.
The Government Equalities Office, in their research report “Gender pay gap: employers' action and understanding”, has identified that best practice action plans should focus on the full employee lifecycle.
Key elements are set out below:
- how the employer approaches recruitment (content and appeal of job adverts, approach to short-listing, potential for unconscious bias during the interviewing process)
- how the employer approaches induction and introduction to the organisation (how women and men are treated at this point and how this might impact their future aspirations)
- working conditions and hours (availability of flexible working, shift arrangements, parental leave policies)
- training and development policies and opportunities (relevance to different genders, availability, impact and outcomes)
- access to support and mentoring (whether sufficient support was available and how to improve provision)
- the mechanisms for remuneration, personal development and promotion (how the systems work, and whether they potentially disadvantage women)
- employee satisfaction and engagement (how this is measured, and any feedback elicited which indicates issues that could be relevant to their GPG)