Partner Article

Gender pay gap is “sad news” for business

An employment law specialist has commented on recent reports that the gender pay gap was widening, calling it “sad news”, for business.

Michael Slade, managing director of Bibby Consulting and Support is calling for employers to ensure both men and women receive equal pay if they are equally qualified for the role.

Nonetheless, he was also keen to note that the results of the Chartered Management Institute showed that overall male executives’ pay increased by just 2.3 percent last year, in comparison to 2.8 percent for females.

Michael commented: “What tends to happen is that many women in lower executive positions take a career break, so when they come back to work they have missed a couple of years of pay increases and career development opportunities.

“This could also explain why there are fewer women in boardrooms because men who don’t take breaks will continue up the scale to senior executive positions.”

More women tend to work in senior human resources positions, which are not as well paid as similar positions in finance, marketing and IT, so often the pay gap can be attributed to sectors chosen by each gender.

“This means that both male and female executives in HR could be earning less than men and women in identical positions in finance or marketing,” he added.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .