HR professionals urged to keep an eye on their organisation’s pay differentials or ‘face backlash’
A group of female BBC staff, including some of the broadcaster’s most recognisable stars, have called on the organisation to “act now” to fix gender pay discrepancies.
In an open letter published over the weekend, more than 40 women, including broadcasters Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and Fiona Bruce, told director general Lord Tony Hall they would be willing to meet with him to “discuss [the] ways in which you can correct this disparity so that future generations of women do not face this kind of discrimination”.
Although Hall had already pledged to close the organisation’s gender pay gap by 2020, the women said the BBC must have “known about the pay disparity for years” and have called for more immediate action.
The broadcaster has received a slew of criticism since it published the salaries of employees earning more than £150,000 last week.
Critics were quick to point out that two-thirds of the celebrities listed were male. The data also revealed that the highest-earning man, Chris Evans, was taking home more than four times that of the highest-earning woman, Claudia Winkleman, with pay of between £2.2m and £2.25m compared with her £450,000 to £500,000.
However, the open letter also noted that the BBC’s pay gap exists “beyond the [high earners] list”, including areas such as “production, engineering and support services”, hinting at problems across the 20,000-plus workforce.
Former Today presenter Sue MacGregor revealed in The Sunday Times yesterday that she had first challenged the broadcaster’s gender pay gap 20 years ago, when she discovered she was earning £20,000 less per year than her male co-stars.
But the BBC may not be the only organisation with tricky questions to answer about differences in pay between men and women. Businesses with more than 250 staff have until next April to publish their own gender pay gap details. At the time of writing, 34 organisations had done so, including accountancy giant PwC and challenger banks TSB and Virgin Money.
“In the long-term, organisations should regularly monitor their gender pay gaps, build an awareness of unconscious biases in the workplace, redesign career advancement programmes and normalise flexible work arrangements for both women and men,” said Shainaz Firfiray, associate professor of organisation and human resource management at Warwick Business School.
Suzanne Horne, head of the international employment practice at law firm Paul Hastings, added: “Firms worried about their gender pay gap need to run the numbers, review their diversity and inclusion initiatives and determine the appropriate voluntary context in which to present their results. Employers of all kinds cannot afford to be complacent on this issue or they too will face the BBC backlash.”
Responding to the letter, Hall noted that the BBC’s overall pay gap was just 10 per cent, compared with the 18 per cent UK average. He said the organisation would also be consulting on the issue over the next two months.
“When figures are published next year I am confident they will look very different,” Hall wrote. “When other organisations publish their gender pay data by next April, I want the BBC to be one of the best performers when comparisons are made. But beyond that, over the next three years I want the BBC to be regarded as an exemplar on gender and diversity.”
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