The Paula Principle

gender pay gap

What does ‘closing the GPG’ actually mean?

I've been trying to get a handle on what kind of progress has been made in closing the gender pay gap, and this has led me to ask myself what 'closing the gap' actually means.  It seems to me that the obvious 'zero gap = equality = fairness' may disguise something important. The Paula Principle is about the due recognition of women's competences, and I'm mostly interested in career trajectories over time, ie what kinds of progression women make.  But pay is obviously the most available indicator, and the ONS has recently published some important data on trends over time on the GPG.  (By the way, I want to say 'chapeau'…
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How a GPG deters potential recruits

The requirement on organisations with over 250 employees to report on their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is starting to raise some interesting issues.  The latest amongst these is a survey carried out by BMG Research  for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of women agreed that if their organisation had a gender pay gap it would make it more likely they would select an employer without a gap. And more than half (58%) agreed it would make them less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work.  More details in the chart below. It seems that those surveyed (men as well as women) were just…
Read More

Pay gaps and sticky doors

I don't know why I've hardly posted in the last few weeks.  It must be something to do with hibernation - after all, there's been more than enough to comment on from the PP point of view, especially with the growing interest in Gender Pay Gap reporting. Actual data on the GPG is a bit slow in coming.  Organisations with more than 250 employees have known since last year that by April 1 they will have to have reported on the GPG on a number of dimensions: mean gender pay gap median gender pay gap mean bonus gender pay gap median bonus gender pay gap proportion of males and females…
Read More

How big is the gender pay gap?

I'm taking part tomorrow in a Women's Hour discussion on part-time work, so I thought I'd use this post as a way of clarifying for myself what the position is on the gender pay gap, using the recent ONS report on earnings.  For the mathematically challenged such as myself some of the figures need a bit of puzzling out, but don't switch off - I think it's worth persevering. First, the 'headline' figure which has attracted attention is the increase from 9.5% to 10% of the median hourly earnings of full-time employees.  It's right, of course, that we should be emphatically reminded that progress towards equality is by no means guaranteed.…
Read More

What does ‘closing the GPG’ actually mean?

I've been trying to get a handle on what kind of progress has been made in closing the gender pay gap, and this has led me to ask myself what 'closing the gap' actually means.  It seems to me that the obvious 'zero gap = equality = fairness' may disguise something important. The Paula Principle is about the due recognition of women's competences, and I'm mostly interested in career trajectories over time, ie what kinds of progression women make.  But pay is obviously the most available indicator, and the ONS has recently published some important data on trends over time on the GPG.  (By the way, I want to say 'chapeau'…
Read More

How a GPG deters potential recruits

The requirement on organisations with over 250 employees to report on their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is starting to raise some interesting issues.  The latest amongst these is a survey carried out by BMG Research  for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of women agreed that if their organisation had a gender pay gap it would make it more likely they would select an employer without a gap. And more than half (58%) agreed it would make them less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work.  More details in the chart below. It seems that those surveyed (men as well as women) were just…
Read More

Pay gaps and sticky doors

I don't know why I've hardly posted in the last few weeks.  It must be something to do with hibernation - after all, there's been more than enough to comment on from the PP point of view, especially with the growing interest in Gender Pay Gap reporting. Actual data on the GPG is a bit slow in coming.  Organisations with more than 250 employees have known since last year that by April 1 they will have to have reported on the GPG on a number of dimensions: mean gender pay gap median gender pay gap mean bonus gender pay gap median bonus gender pay gap proportion of males and females…
Read More

How big is the gender pay gap?

I'm taking part tomorrow in a Women's Hour discussion on part-time work, so I thought I'd use this post as a way of clarifying for myself what the position is on the gender pay gap, using the recent ONS report on earnings.  For the mathematically challenged such as myself some of the figures need a bit of puzzling out, but don't switch off - I think it's worth persevering. First, the 'headline' figure which has attracted attention is the increase from 9.5% to 10% of the median hourly earnings of full-time employees.  It's right, of course, that we should be emphatically reminded that progress towards equality is by no means guaranteed.…
Read More

What does ‘closing the GPG’ actually mean?

I've been trying to get a handle on what kind of progress has been made in closing the gender pay gap, and this has led me to ask myself what 'closing the gap' actually means.  It seems to me that the obvious 'zero gap = equality = fairness' may disguise something important. The Paula Principle is about the due recognition of women's competences, and I'm mostly interested in career trajectories over time, ie what kinds of progression women make.  But pay is obviously the most available indicator, and the ONS has recently published some important data on trends over time on the GPG.  (By the way, I want to say 'chapeau'…
Read More

How a GPG deters potential recruits

The requirement on organisations with over 250 employees to report on their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is starting to raise some interesting issues.  The latest amongst these is a survey carried out by BMG Research  for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of women agreed that if their organisation had a gender pay gap it would make it more likely they would select an employer without a gap. And more than half (58%) agreed it would make them less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work.  More details in the chart below. It seems that those surveyed (men as well as women) were just…
Read More

Pay gaps and sticky doors

I don't know why I've hardly posted in the last few weeks.  It must be something to do with hibernation - after all, there's been more than enough to comment on from the PP point of view, especially with the growing interest in Gender Pay Gap reporting. Actual data on the GPG is a bit slow in coming.  Organisations with more than 250 employees have known since last year that by April 1 they will have to have reported on the GPG on a number of dimensions: mean gender pay gap median gender pay gap mean bonus gender pay gap median bonus gender pay gap proportion of males and females…
Read More

How big is the gender pay gap?

I'm taking part tomorrow in a Women's Hour discussion on part-time work, so I thought I'd use this post as a way of clarifying for myself what the position is on the gender pay gap, using the recent ONS report on earnings.  For the mathematically challenged such as myself some of the figures need a bit of puzzling out, but don't switch off - I think it's worth persevering. First, the 'headline' figure which has attracted attention is the increase from 9.5% to 10% of the median hourly earnings of full-time employees.  It's right, of course, that we should be emphatically reminded that progress towards equality is by no means guaranteed.…
Read More

What does ‘closing the GPG’ actually mean?

I've been trying to get a handle on what kind of progress has been made in closing the gender pay gap, and this has led me to ask myself what 'closing the gap' actually means.  It seems to me that the obvious 'zero gap = equality = fairness' may disguise something important. The Paula Principle is about the due recognition of women's competences, and I'm mostly interested in career trajectories over time, ie what kinds of progression women make.  But pay is obviously the most available indicator, and the ONS has recently published some important data on trends over time on the GPG.  (By the way, I want to say 'chapeau'…
Read More

How a GPG deters potential recruits

The requirement on organisations with over 250 employees to report on their Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is starting to raise some interesting issues.  The latest amongst these is a survey carried out by BMG Research  for the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of women agreed that if their organisation had a gender pay gap it would make it more likely they would select an employer without a gap. And more than half (58%) agreed it would make them less likely to recommend their employer as a place to work.  More details in the chart below. It seems that those surveyed (men as well as women) were just…
Read More

Pay gaps and sticky doors

I don't know why I've hardly posted in the last few weeks.  It must be something to do with hibernation - after all, there's been more than enough to comment on from the PP point of view, especially with the growing interest in Gender Pay Gap reporting. Actual data on the GPG is a bit slow in coming.  Organisations with more than 250 employees have known since last year that by April 1 they will have to have reported on the GPG on a number of dimensions: mean gender pay gap median gender pay gap mean bonus gender pay gap median bonus gender pay gap proportion of males and females…
Read More

How big is the gender pay gap?

I'm taking part tomorrow in a Women's Hour discussion on part-time work, so I thought I'd use this post as a way of clarifying for myself what the position is on the gender pay gap, using the recent ONS report on earnings.  For the mathematically challenged such as myself some of the figures need a bit of puzzling out, but don't switch off - I think it's worth persevering. First, the 'headline' figure which has attracted attention is the increase from 9.5% to 10% of the median hourly earnings of full-time employees.  It's right, of course, that we should be emphatically reminded that progress towards equality is by no means guaranteed.…
Read More