British companies with 250 or more employees will be required to publish their gender pay gap report by 2018. This is an effort to "name and shame" companies who fail to pay men and women equally.
According to Telegraph, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) which represents employers announced the move. The plans publicized include the government publishing a series of league tables detailing the "best and worst" companies. The CBI pointed out that the figures from these league tables will, however, represent only a partial number of employees since women in some sectors are working part-time as opposed to men.
Businesses will be forced to disclose how many men and women fall into each salary category in order to identify where men dominate as per the highest-paid positions. Financial companies are also required to reveal how much more men get paid compared to women regarding bonuses.
It is illegal to pay different amounts to men and women who are doing the same job as per the Equal Pay Act. The estimates from Office for National Statistics, however, claims a pay gap of 19.2 percent for full time and part time workers in the United Kingdom, The Guardian reported.
Ann Francke, the chief executive of the Chartered Management Institutes, said in a statement that "women make up 60 percent of junior managers, 40 percent of middle managers and 20 percent of senior managers." She pointed out that the possible transparency for "glass pyramid" will help employees to be all the more efficient in the workplace.
Meanwhile, CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn stressed that the league tables are not only for naming and shaming firms, but also "a prompt for companies to ask the right questions about how they can eradicate the gender pay gap." This statement came after companies have expressed their dismay regarding the publishing as well as the ranking.
Education Secretary and Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan acknowledged the discussion of gender equality in some companies, advising employers to "see the talents of women and men" fairly in every workplace. She also urged women across Britain to use their position to demand more from their companies and ensure that their talents are given the recognition and reward they deserve, Sky News reported.
Ex-Labour leader Harriet Harman initiated the push to force companies to reveal their gender pay gap in the Equalities Act of 2010. However, only five companies voluntarily submitted their reports. Liberal Democrats demanded for mandatory reporting, with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg providing an amendment in March that would require ministers to make rules on the matter within the next 12 months.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced the rules for the mandatory reports would come into force this year.
