Bandwagon I3 2022 ‘Mind the Gap’ PDF Article
By Lilyanne Guille at BWCI
“Gender pay analysis can help organisations
to identify issues and future opportunities“
Gender Pay Gap
Gender pay analysis calculates the difference between the average earnings of men and women in a workforce. The gender pay gap is a key statistic measuring the difference in average earnings and expressing the result as a percentage of men’s earnings.
Why measure the gap?
In the UK, gender pay gap reporting is mandatory for employers with a headcount of 250 or more employees. This is not yet the case in the Channel Islands. However, a number of firms are reportedly considering publishing this data, on a voluntary basis, with the backdrop of new discrimination laws in Guernsey and increasing pressure through the scrutiny system in Jersey. A webinar run by a Channel Islands law firm found that 68% of attendees said their firm would consider publishing gender pay gap data voluntarily.
Measuring the gender pay gap and disclosing the information on a voluntary basis demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. This is important because, not only do diverse and inclusive businesses often attract the best talent, these values can also be important for customers and investors. In addition, gender pay analysis can help organisations to identify issues and future opportunities. An organization’s calculations can then be used to establish a baseline and monitor progress.
Is it an issue locally?
The most recent Channel Islands Women in Work Index estimated that, as of 2019, the gender pay gap in the Channel Islands was 21% (i.e. on average women earned 21% less than men). According to the report, this is five percentage points above the UK, and of the 35 countries measured only Estonia, Korea and Japan had a higher gender pay gap.
In the Channel Islands, one of the main reasons for the gender pay gap is reportedly that most senior positions are held by men. However, contributing factors can vary by organisation, so it is important not just to identify any gender pay gap, but also to understand the reasons why it exists and the focus for change.
Gender Pay Gap Service
Gender pay analysis and reporting is the newest service offering from the BWCI Group. Our standard gender pay analysis will report on several measures:
- mean gender pay gap;
- median gender pay gap;
- mean bonus gender pay gap;
- proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
- proportion of males and females in each quartile band.
Thinking about signing up?
Our data suggests that public opinion supports increased transparency around the gender pay gap. The 2021 IGR Gender Equality Survey found that around 8 out of 10 people agree or strongly agree that “It is important that businesses in the Channel Islands understand if there is a gender pay gap in their organisation”.
With this in mind, identifying your gender pay gap and reporting the actions your business is taking to increase equality is likely to leave a positive impression of your brand amongst consumers and potential new recruits.
The new Gender Pay Analysis service is offered by the BWCI Group, with analysis and reporting undertaken by colleagues at Island Global Research.
Island Global Research is a market research and consultancy company in the BWCI Group.
If you would like to know more, please get in touch by emailing mail@bwcigroup.com or visit the following link:
https://www.bwcigroup.com/downloads/Guernsey-pay-gap-analysis-factsheet.pdf