Nearly 30% of employers find the gender pay reporting regulations confusing, while 41% say they are complex and 28% feel they are misleading.
The findings from Mercer revealed that, although most businesses are supportive of pay gap reporting, 73% said they need to create a narrative around their figures to explain them, which is slowing down publication.
Chris Charman, Principal and Reward expert at Mercer, commented: ‘Many companies are concerned about the risk of reputational damage when publishing their figures, especially as there still seems to be much confusion between the gender pay gap and the legal requirement of equal pay for equal work.’
The research also found that a little over half of the businesses surveyed had conducted some analysis of their gender pay gap in the last three years, such as equal pay audits and bonus programme analysis.
Looking beyond pay, some organisations have begun to look at wider issues. For example, 25% have analysed data on female promotions, 25% have set goals for female representation and 36% have trained managers in unconscious bias.
‘From our own research we see that to make progress on closing the gender pay gap requires fair pay programmes, equal pay monitoring and corrective action, a strong focus on female progression and gender parity, as well as attention to the broader diversity and inclusion programme,’ added Charman.
