Pay is usually a key factor in motivation and relationships at work. However, today, there still remains a huge gender gap in pay packets. More recent legislation has encouraged businesses to analyse their salary systems -
in order to avoid any potential legislation for unfair pay.
Alison Smith of activpayroll, the outsourcing payroll company, says that in Scotland in particular, there has been little change over the last 3 decades Equal Opportunities Commission Scotland reports an almost 20%
divide between pay for men and women - compared to 10% in Italy. In Scotland, Smith says this divide can mean that a woman earns nearly 500 less per month than a man doing an equal job. Alison points out too, that Aberdeen has the worst record in Scotland partly due to the male-orientated oil industry, women in Aberdeen earn, on average nearly 200 per week less than a man doing an equal job.
Alison says it is important to clarify what íequal payí means Equal pay includes holiday entitlement, sick pay as well as bonuses - for equal work. This is not simply a job title - but what a person actually does, along with the demands and skills required of that person.
One reason for the divide is the number of women working part-time, often in low-skilled jobs. Women make up the bulk of part-time workers due to their other commitments of caring for tomorrowís - and yesterdayís - generation. In part-time work, the pay gap between men and women can be up to 40%. Alison Smith of activpayroll says Many employers still think of womenís earnings as less important - a second
income - or ípin moneyí. However changes in the structure of families today can make this an even greater problem - where single parent families subsist on only one, part-time income. Part-timers also often miss out on sick pay and holiday pay, leading to unfair pay overall. Women working part-time often have to do more than one job to earn a
wage to support their family.
Women can also lose out during maternity leave - missing bonuses or pay rises due to their leave of absence. Studies have shown that women are less likely to know what their colleagues earn than their male equivalents - and even if they do know, they are less likely than men to seek confrontation to ask for more pay.
Alison Smith says that the root of the problem can often be found at the very first stage of a new job Basic pay on entering an organisation often favours men - and this initial inequality creates the problem of compounded differences over years of working.
Alison Smith says that employers should regularly undertake an audit of men and womenís pay. Companies should regularly - say yearly - analyse their payroll to ensure that there are no differences in pay between men and women doing an equal job. In that way, they are less likely to face litigation or demoralised staff. Alison says that detailed data should be collated - from across all relevant departments such as HR and finance. The audit would then examine the individual person and the job - over the entire period of employment. Alison says a job evaluation scheme is vital to an equal pay review Jobs can be sorted into work of equal value - enabling companies to compare employees who may be in different types of roles.
Alison warns that a high potential cost of inequality of pay is often overlooked - that is the ability of a company to recruit high-calibre staff. Alison explains Employees are generally the biggest asset of a business - attracting the right people can often be a difficult job. By employing an equal pay policy, firms are much more likely to be able to recruit from a wider pool of talent.
activpayroll operates across Scotland. To find out more about activpayroll and outsourcing your equal pay audit, call 01224 860800 or
log onto
The Gender Gap in Pay Threatens Employers
More than 30 years have passed since the Equal Pay Act (1970) tried to eliminate the huge divide in the pay of men and women.