UK women shun employers over lack of equal pay

Research by Robert Walters shows the absence of career progression opportunities is the number one reason women would leave a job. Now, a survey by Glassdoor shows a lack of equal pay between women and their male counterparts will also drive them to avoid certain employers.

Just over half of working women (51%) and 37% of men would be more attracted to an employer if it had a strong diversity programme in place, while 48% of women would be more interested in a company with a professional development network for female employees. Meanwhile, 44% of women and 23% of men would consider working for a business if the senior leadership team was at least 30% female.

Figures from the study also reveal that nearly half (44%) of employees mistakenly believe an organisation’s gender pay gap is caused by discrimination. However, research proves that two thirds of the discrepancy can be explained by differences in worker ‘characteristics’ (such as the fact that women tend to be care providers for children and elderly family members more than men).

Encouragingly, the report shows that more than half (58%) of the working population think the Government should force businesses to reveal employee salaries in an effort to create greater transparency, which could combat the gender pay gap. Two thirds (65%) also believe companies should embrace the move toward transparency, while 38% of men say equal pay will not be achieved until parents start sharing equal responsibility for caring for children.

It would appear ignorance is at play when it comes to understanding equal pay, as one in four working adults say they don’t understand their employers’ salary structure, while 49% wish they knew what was fair remuneration for their role. In addition, 41% think they’ll need to get a new job elsewhere to get a pay rise.

Proving that negotiation is key when it comes to pay, 35% of women wish they had tried harder to get a better salary when starting a job, compared to 31% of men.