Equal pay reviews: research

Section 9 of the Personnel Today Management Resources one stop guide on equal pay reviews. Other sections.


Use this section to

Find out where to obtain further information on the gender pay gap and pay equality issues

Gather information to make the business case for managing equal pay

Just Pay: the report of the Equal Pay Taskforce

February 2001

Available from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk

  • Final report from the Equal Pay Taskforce, set up in October 1999 by the EOC to explore the causes and consequences of the pay gap, take evidence and make recommendations about how to close it. The 12 members, including figures from the private and public sectors, employers and trade unions, took evidence over a 12-month period from a wide range of individuals and organisations, conducted a survey, commissioned research, held expert seminars and consulted key stakeholders. Its report is held to be one of the most authoritative to date, and a number of its recommendations have been acted upon.

    Gender Equality In Pay Practices

    Gender Equality in Pay Practices in England and Wales

    2001

    Available from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk/research

  • Two reports from NOP Business, commissioned by the EOC, to assess the attitudes of employers to equal pay; the extent of gender equality within organisational pay practices; and the impact of the EOC's code of practice on equal pay.

    These studies were designed to provide further evidence to the Equal Pay Taskforce, and offer practical guidance to the EOC for its future policy work.

    The research revealed that although attitudes towards equal pay and organisational pay practices varied considerably between organisations, progress was being made in raising awareness about the issues. The research identified four different organisational approaches:

  • Those committed to achieving equal pay

  • Those who are aware they have not done enough and who have the will to do more

  • Those who have taken steps to improve their pay systems but not with a gender focus

  • Those who have done very little to review gender equality in pay, but are nevertheless confident their pay systems are fair.

    This "misplaced confidence" would make it a major challenge to translate awareness of the equal pay issue into specific, targeted action, said the report. Only one in five larger organisations had made use of the EOC code of practice on equal pay.

    Monitoring Progress Towards Pay Equality

    2003

    By Fiona Neathey, Sally Dench and Louise Thomson, Institute for Employment Studies, commissioned by the EOC

    Available as a download or hard copy from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk/research

  • Designed to re-examine organisational pay structures and pay practices in the light of the developments of the past three years, and, in particular progress on equal pay reviews.

    This research found that too few organisations still monitored the relative pay of women and men or ensured their pay systems were transparent. There are signs of progress, however, on equal pay reviews - and signs of a positive response to the voluntary approach taken by the Government towards these. Still, the majority of larger employers had no plans to carry out an equal pay review, so there was a need to continue to exert pressure and to reassess their impact on the gender pay gap at a later date.

    Qualifications and Careers: Equal Opportunities And Earnings Among Graduates

    2002

    By K Purcell

    Available from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk/research

  • A report examining why male graduates continue to have substantially higher average earnings than female graduates through new analysis of the Moving On survey, a major survey of UK graduates three-and-a-half years after graduation conducted in 1998.

    The research revealed that women earn less on average than men even when they have studied the same subjects, achieved the same class of degree or entered the same industry or occupation.

    The paper also shows there are particular areas of employment where gender inequalities in pay are particularly persistent: employment in the private sector generally, and in jobs where law and engineering graduates are employed.

    Low Pay, Times of Work and Gender

    2002

    By S Harkness

    Available from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk/research

  • An examination of the impact that working part-time, or in the evening or at night, has on the earnings of female and male employees.

    Through analysis of the Spring 2000 Labour Force Survey, the research shows that while men usually receive a wage premium for working in the evening or at night, women generally do not. The research also provides further evidence that women experience a large pay penalty for working part-time, and that many women working part-time remain on low pay.

    Kingsmill Report on Women's Employment And Pay

    2001

    By Denise Kingsmill

    Available from www.kingsmillreview.gov.uk

  • Report commissioned by the Government on tackling the earnings gap between men and women through the better management of human capital.

    The report followed a comprehensive review that consulted the top management of 100 of the UK's leading private and public sector organisations.

    The report contains a summary of the factors behind the gender pay gap, discussion about the ways in which employers are managing human capital, and statements of evidence from 50 of the companies, trade unions, voluntary organisations and public sector bodies Kingsmill interviewed. Detailed recommendations relate to five general themes:

  • Information: improving human capital data through tools such as voluntary pay reviews

  • Reporting: improved reporting on this information by both public and private sector organisations, perhaps as a legal requirement

  • Research: on issues such as the economic repercussions of under-using women's skills

  • Tax credits: for example, for employers in sectors where women are under-represented and that recruit and train women who would otherwise be unemployed or on low earnings

  • Disclosure: resulted in the introduction of the equal pay questionnaire (see Jargon buster).

    The Gender Pay Gap: A Research Review

    2001

    By D Grimshaw and J Rubery

    Available from the EOC - www.eoc.org.uk/research

  • A study reviewing research evidence about the gender pay gap.

    The Impact of Women's Position in the Labour Market on Pay and Implications for UK Productivity

    2002

    By Professor Sylvia Walby and Dr Wendy Olsen

    Available from the Cabinet Office's Women and Equality Unit - www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk

  • A report focusing on whether - and if so, to what extent - women's position in employment has implications not only for their pay, but also for the UK's productivity and economic performance. In other words, what might the gender pay gap mean for broader economic objectives relating to output and productivity levels?

    The report introduced the concept of a gender productivity gap; it highlighted the importance of taking a gendered approach when analysing the factors behind the UK's productivity performance; and it calculated using data from the British Household Panel Survey 1999/2000 that differences in labour market attachment and types of occupational activity accounted for over half the pay gap. Discrimination accounted for around 30 per cent.

    Towards a Closing of the UK Gender Pay Gap

    2003

    By the Women and Equality Unit

    Available from the Women and Equality Unit - www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research

  • Report produced as part of a European project of the same name carried out in 2001 and 2002, dealing with gender wage differences under the EU's 5th Action Programme's Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005). The report was presented along with five others at the final conference hosted in Oslo in November 2002.

    The report looks at the size and the causes of the gender pay gap in the UK, and reiterates the Government's commitment to closing it as part of its agenda for "modernisation, social inclusion and equality of opportunity."

    It highlights initiatives such as the equal pay questionnaire, the (now defunct) Castle Awards and the funding of trade union training in equal pay issues.

    It identifies the use of human capital management (HCM), taken forward as part of the Kingsmill review, as an important tool to make comparisons and track trends in the ways in which organisations recruit, train and develop staff, both men and women. It ruled out the need for further legislative measures, emphasising the need to make existing legislation work better.

    "Setting targets could be a future option, but not until it becomes clearer how the factors influencing the pay gap interrelate."

    Delivering on Gender Equality - Supporting the PSA Objective on Gender Equality 2003-2006

    2003

    By the Women & Equality Unit

    Available from www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research

  • Sets out specific targets and initiatives across government, which the Ministers for Women believe are key to delivering improvements in gender equality. These targets cover the key delivery departments and the key government priorities for action, including employment, pay, flexible working and childcare.

    Delivering on Gender Equality also sets out the broader context of work going on across government to make a positive impact on gender equality.

    Individual Incomes for Men and Women 1996/7 to 2001/02

    2003

    By the Women & Equality Unit

    Available from www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research

  • Provides estimates based on the Family Resources Survey of the individual income of men and women in Britain and changes in income over time. These provide a means of comparing the income received by women with that of men, either directly or in their own right.

    Gender Briefings

    By the Women and Equality Unit

    Available from: www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research

  • Three-monthly digest of statistics on women in the labour market, based on estimates from the Labour Force Survey.

    Includes information on employment rates for women, part-time and full-time rates, employment rates for men and women by occupation, hourly earnings, employment rates for men and women by age of youngest child, and more.

    Chasing Progress on Equal Pay

    18 April 2003

    By IRS Employment Review (Issue 774)

  • Key points of this in-depth article are that with equal pay firmly on the bargaining agenda, advice from the EOC, government and unions for employers to review their pay structures is more timely than ever. The slow progress towards equal pay review targets set for private sector employers may not lead the Government to review its opposition to mandatory pay reviews. But even so, employers are still advised that no action is a high-risk approach. Trade unions are one of the key drivers - many are developing their own training and expertise to work jointly with employers or conduct their own review.

    Pressure Builds for Equal Pay

    1 May 2002

    Equal Opportunities Review (Issue 105)

  • Sets out a brief outline of the law and identifies some of the key problems in applying it. Features three case studies of organisations that have undertaken pay reviews since the EOC introduced its model.

    Reward Management 2003

    2003

    By Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)

    Available on registration from www.cipd.co.uk

  • Survey of HR practitioners on reward strategies. Like the EOC, it found a degree of complacency among employers when it came to pay equality.

    New Earnings Survey

    By the Office of National Statistics

    Available from www.statistics.gov.uk

  • Annual survey based on a 1 per cent sample of employees in Britain. It compares pay of full-time employees (before tax) on adult rates whose pay for the survey week was unaffected by absence. Annual and weekly earnings include overtime pay; hourly earnings exclude it. The 2002 results famously showed a slight widening of the pay gap between men and women's average hourly earnings, for the first time in 20 years. However, the 2003 results showed this same gap was at its smallest since records began, at 18 per cent down from 19 per cent in April 2002. The average hourly rate for men went up 2.2 per cent to £12.88, while for women it rose 3.4 per cent to £10.56.

    While average hourly pay provides a useful comparison between men and women's pay, it is not necessarily an accurate reflection of differences in rates of pay for comparable jobs: the averages are affected by the different work patterns of men and women, such as working different occupations and the length of time in jobs.


    One stop guide to equal pay reviews: other sections

    Section 1: The time is nigh for equal pay
    Section 2: The legal framework
    Section 3: The business case
    Section 4: Carrying out an equal pay review
    Section 5: Designing and implementing a non-discriminatory job evaluation scheme
    Section 6: Pay practices - some questions and answers
    Section 7: Products and services
    Section 8: Case studies
    Section 9: Research
    Section 10: Key contacts
    Section 11: Jargon buster
    Section 12: Checklists