Should There Be Earnings Equality For All?

More than 10,000 large firms have now supplied data in relation to earnings as required by the Government Equalities Office. There have been some interesting statistics come out of the data* including:

• 3/4 of all companies who submitted data pay men more than women
• Only 14% of the 10,000 reported a pay gap in favour of women
• Not only do 3/4 of men receive more pay than women, men also receive higher bonuses than women
• Men take the majority of higher paid jobs
• Education has a 20% high pay gap (in some cases men were paid twice as much as women)
• The Finance sector has the biggest bonus pay gap where women were paid 35% less than men

Some of this won’t have come as much of a surprise to the women reading this and some of it may well have done. A few years ago I worked alongside a male colleague who was doing exactly the same role as me, however I was under no illusion there was equality of pay. Guess what, I was ok with it. Yes he had a couple more reportees than me, it wasn’t that though. He had spent longer in the role and I recognised he was therefore more experienced and should be paid accordingly. I don’t believe this is always about gender either. I know of women who have been doing the same job and again, there has been inequality of pay.

So I wonder, what should set pay scales apart? Should it be the depth of experience in the role, the value of the results you deliver, or should there be complete parity across the board, no matter what?

In my humble opinion, the question should really be, regardless of gender, what value do you add? What are you doing to set yourself apart from the rest of your colleagues? Is it enough to turn up to work on time, do a good job and go home… or should we be taking the time to strategise our future and what we bring to the table?

If you’re happy with the status quo, to pick up your pay cheque and go home, this article isn’t really for you. The readers I’m talking to are those of you who are interested in developing yourself, growing, feeling a sense of achievement and striving to add value to whatever you do, whether for yourself or an employer.

Consciously Creating Your Future

Stop now and think about who you want to be today, and also tomorrow. What is your vision for your career? Where do you see yourself going? How much do you want to earn? Who would you love to work with? What would you love to do? What are your secret dreams?

More importantly, how are you going to bring these aspirations and dreams to reality? Is there a place for them in your current environment or should you be planning your next career move because sometimes, even when we are adding value and doing everything we can to support the business, there still isn’t equality and we’re not always getting paid our worth.

You may not have the answers right now, but simply taking the time to ponder these questions and be curious about what the answer might be, will set you apart from Mr/Ms Average and start you on your quest of adding value. Why? Because most people drift through their career journey with their eyes closed, simply reacting to whatever life/business throws at them. You on the other hand, will be consciously creating your future. Which one do you think brings real results?

If you would like a head start on where to focus your efforts for an aligned and fulfilled career, where you feel you are adding value and being paid your worth, please get in touch to book a Career Strategy session and discuss putting your career on the right path for you.

*Source: BBC News Gender Pay Gap: Six Things We’ve Learnt by Clara Guibourg