Most (91%) companies feel prepared for the new Gender Pay Gap reporting regulations due to come into force in 2017, according to the latest Willis Towers Watson survey. However, although 81% of companies feel they have the tools required to calculate their gender pay gap, only a third (35%) currently have all the data they will need to run their reports.
The survey shows that just under two thirds (63%) of companies have already taken action to prepare for the new reporting legislation, but just 16% have needed to change their reward programmes. Less than a third (29%) have recently run an equal-pay audit, but more than three quarters (77%) are planning to run one in the next year.
Tom Hellier, GB Practice Lead, Rewards at Willis Towers Watson, said: “The survey shows the first challenge for most employers will be accessing the data they need to run the required reports. For most companies, base pay figures are easy to access and analyse, but to comply with the legislation the same will need to be true of total pay data, the various components of which are often scattered across multiple systems. Total pay includes bonus, sales commissions, maternity pay, and car allowances to name just a few components, so for some companies gathering this information will be quite a challenge.”
The survey also reports that the majority of companies have well documented policies on setting base pay (77%) and performance management (94%) as well as work life balance (68%), all of which are key to reducing the gender-pay gap. However, the percentage of companies with robust policies on promotion (44%), job moves (35%), monitoring gender-pay levels (35%) and targets for recruitment and retention of women (15%) are lower.
Tom Hellier continued: “The reporting requirement helps nudge companies in a direction that many were already moving towards. However, it is important to acknowledge that gender pay gaps are not just the result of pay decisions and design. They are just as likely to be indicative of culture, talent management and diversity issues. Elements such as recruitment and succession planning need consideration to understand any unconscious bias in high potential candidate selection or a gender imbalance for recruitment. This type of potential issue needs addressing in all organisations before we will see a more significant closure of the gender pay gap.”