Firms fear damage over gender pay gap reports

MORE than two-thirds of firms in Ireland are concerned about potential reputational risks of gender pay gap reporting, and half worry about the cost that addressing pay differentials might impose on their business, a recent survey shows.

The news comes as it has emerged that a Gender Pay Gap Information Bill has been brought before Cabinet by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan and approved for tabling before the Dáil.

The draft legislation would give the Minister power to make regulations requiring publication of gender pay gap data by workplaces.

It’s intended the requirement will apply to firms with 250 employees or more during its first two years after enactment. After a further year it could be applied to firms with 150 workers or more. Only four years after enactment would it apply to companies with 50 staff members or more.

The Government believes the rolling programme will encourage workplaces to take action.

Over half of Irish workplaces – and 56% of employees – will be covered if the threshold is set at 50 employees and over.

The Mercer 2018 Ireland Gender Pay Gap Snapshot Survey of 67 organisations employing a total of more than 110,000 people in Ireland, reveals Irishbased companies agree with the principle of gender pay gap reporting – 74% – and believe it would have a positive impact – 67%.

However, there is concern about the potential negative reputational impact of mandatory disclosures, 67%, with a third of companies, 34%, fearing that they will underperform relative to Ireland’s average gender pay gap of 13.9%.

Seven out of 10 of companies surveyed said they had yet to explore whether any gender bias existed, and less than half plan to conduct an equal pay audit in the next 18 months.