TPP working towards closing the gender pay gap

Having come across Leaders Plus - A Multi-Award-Winning Social Enterprise - and the work that they do, I was pleasantly surprised when Verena contacted me in late 2019 to explore whether I would be interested in considering a voluntary role as a Mentor for the Leaders Plus Fellowship programme.

If ever a vision resonated with me, it was theirs - “We believe that gender inclusion at work and at home means no parent has to make the choice between pursuing a leadership career and leading a fulfilled family life“.

It is undeniable that there are both intentional and unintentional barriers faced by working parents that should not be present and are counterproductive to allowing people to be both brilliant parents and progressive, ambitious professionals and leaders.

Sadly, women still seem to be trailing behind in terms of pay. The UK Parliament House of Commons Library reported that in 2019 the gender pay gap was 17.3% in the UK, which means that on average, women were paid approximately 83p for every £1 men were paid. It also states the gender pay gap for all employees is larger than the full-time and part-time pay gaps because part-time workers tend to earn less per hour than full-time workers and women are more likely to work part-time.

Recent reports state that the current pandemic has caused further inequalities in how women have been impacted professionally. The Fawcett Society noted some key findings:

• Mothers in couples were over one-and-a-half times more likely than fathers to say that they were doing the majority of childcare during school and nurseries closures.
• 61.6% of single mothers in our sample said they had struggled to go to the shops due to their children being at home, compared with 39.1% of couple fathers.
• Anxiety levels are greater among mothers in our sample, with 44% compared with 33% of fathers reporting high anxiety.

Despite these findings, it is probably still too early to truly understand the extent and implications of this and we will have to wait and see what further research tells us in the coming months. Looking at this through a more optimistic lens though, I do believe that the pandemic has accelerated our working world to a much more authentically flexible one, which in itself will help overcome some of the barriers faced.

One of the main points conveyed by The Office for National Statistics in their Gender pay gap in the UK: 2019 report was as follows:

“One of the reasons for differences in the gender pay gap between age groups is that women over 40 years are more likely to work in lower-paid occupations and, compared with younger women, are less likely to work as managers, directors or senior officials.”

In summary, this would suggest there is still a lot to be done and as such, I am pleased to be involved with the Leaders Plus Fellowship Programme as a mentor and will continue to look for proactive ways to support this important issue.

At TPP, we continue our commitment as a consultancy to play our part in addressing issues such as the gender pay gap and I am proud to report that TPP Recruitment has recently signed up to the #showthesalary campaign. This campaign has been set up in response to the belief that advertising roles without a salary or salary range further perpetuates the unfair gender pay gap. We have also just launched our Inclusive Recruitment Guide that will go some way in educating and supporting organisations with reviewing, planning, and undertaking more inclusive recruitment practices to support their D&I goals and objectives.

TPP has always played the part of being a supportive recruitment partner but we feel strongly that we have an even more important role to play now, and in the future, with supporting both candidates and organisations with addressing inequality and making at least the recruitment process, a fair and enjoyable experience for everyone involved. We are proud of our D&I statement and committed to taking the necessary steps to deliver to it!