Women! Like men, only cheaper
- Greg Orme
People who are passionate about their work come up with new ideas.
Research shows they also stay longer in a business – and work harder. But a passionate, engaged workforce only happens in an organisational culture that’s fair.
For this reason, alarm bells should be ringing in board rooms across the country.
Latest figures show women in the UK earn a whopping 19% less than men. Up to the age of 40, there’s little difference between pay packets. But beyond 40, when more women are likely to have taken time out to raise families and work part-time, there is a very big gap. In skills-based roles men enjoy a pay premium of nearly 25%.
That’s huge. And this embarrassing skeleton may well soon be kicked out of the closet and into the glaring sunlight.
The British government intends to bring in regulations in the first half of this year to force larger employers to publish the amount awarded to men and women in bonuses. They’ll also have to come clean about the difference between average pay.
If successful, this is going to cause a lot of red faces.
What many female executives long suspected will be demonstrated very clearly indeed. I’m guessing, when they find out, whatever passion they had for their business will be severely dampened.
Treating half of your employees worse than the other half just isn’t fair. And, with this new level of transparency, companies will no longer be able to hide it away like a guilty secret. If any business wants to retain the vital edge an engaged workforce offers, they need to act now.
It’s time to clean out the closet.
If you like this try my book ‘The Spark: How to Ignite and Lead Business Creativity’ (FT Publishing) available on Amazon.
Copyright © 2016 Greg Orme. All Rights Reserved.
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