Although the gender pay gap has long been a focus for equal opportunity businesses, it seems campaigners are starting 2017 with some good news.
A report from the Resolution Foundation has revealed the pay gap for women in their 20s has now decreased to only five per cent.
But the problem isn’t resolved quite yet, with the survey adding that women will still go on to earn significantly less than their male counterparts throughout their careers.
Keeping a handle on equal pay
From the age of 30, when family concerns start to come into play, the pay gap widens once again.
By their mid-40s, women will find themselves facing a wage deficit of almost 30 per cent.
It’s a clear sign that the long-term underlying causes of the gender pay gap – like the burden of childcare – are still to be fully addressed.
With that in mind, we’re running through a few key tactics that’ll help you protect the professional wellbeing of your employees and business.
#1: Ask for input
You may feel like your business is running flawlessly with a buzzing team of happy and content workers behind it, but that may not be the reality.
Lots of people, women included, silently struggle with stress. To get a true sense of what’s going in your workplace, you need to ask the people who know it best – your staff.
Online survey solutions will give them a platform to provide honest, anonymous opinions about how they’re managing with their workloads alongside outside concerns like childcare. You can then use this feedback to create fairer policies.
#2: Focus on recruitment
Recruitment, especially when it comes to promotions, is often one of the biggest roadblocks in a woman’s career.
Unconscious bias, when an interviewer unknowingly favours candidates more similar to them self and is guided by learned attitudes or assumptions, is massively damaging.
Teach staff involved in recruitment processes about the dangers of unconscious bias, run a diversity program to teach other employees about the importance of recognising prejudices and think about undertaking a course to improve your own emotional intelligence.
#3: Embrace flexible working
Since women tend to be the primary caregivers they often find traditional working hours restrictive, making the birth of a child one of the key factors behind the gender pay gap.
Embracing flexible working patterns will prove popular with all your staff, not only mothers.
And better than winning you some extra support in the office, the trust built by implementing such policies is also proven to have a positive effect on productivity and engagement.