Who remembers the days of smoky pubs and restaurants? To me, that’s a world away from where we are today. Now smoking has become so socially unacceptable that in many cases, smokers have become outcasts. Societal pressure played a huge part in this change in attitude towards smoking, alongside the smoking ban imposed by the government. Take corporation tax as another example. Several organisations were ‘tax shamed’ in the media: Starbucks, Amazon and Facebook to name a few. Rather than introducing new legislation to tackle the problem, the government chose to inform consumers, via the media, of these companies’ tax avoidance strategies, and ultimately influence their coffee and book buying choices. Social pressure effecting business strategy. So, what has smoking or corporation tax got to do with reward?
Well, in the same way the government has influenced our thoughts and decisions about smoking, it has engineered strong thoughts and feelings about inequality and unfairness in relation to pay. Businesses have to pay fairly and equally now – there is now legislation in place to help ensure that they do, but the change has also been driven by societal pressure. In past years, some people struggled to live on just their pay. In many cases, it had to be topped up by tax credits to afford them any standard of living. Thoughts were that if an individual is in full-time employment then why should the government have to supplement their income? Shouldn’t their employer just pay them enough to live on?
In a similar way, gender pay reporting requirements include plans to ‘name and shame’ organisations on a gender pay league table. This will further inform our opinions on certain businesses and our decisions on how we interact with them. For example, university graduates could be put off working for an employer near the bottom of the table – why would you want to work for an old-fashioned company that has such disparity in its pay?
These two key pieces of legislation are both long-term strategies to fix two big issues. Particularly with gender pay reporting, the more forward-looking businesses have been acting before the legislation comes into play. Planning ahead like this means they get the opportunity to develop a strong narrative to help explain their gender pay gaps, so they become socially responsible and ‘employers of choice’ way ahead of the crowd.
If you need help identifying your gender pay gap or developing your story to explain it, get in touch: 020 3457 0894.
