Bosses’ gender pay gap growing, new data shows

FEMALE bosses are paid more than £8,500 a year less than their male equivalents in the Midlands – and the gap is growing.

Damning new data reveals the gender pay gap for managers stands at 23.8 per cent and has actually increased in the past year.

Researchers for the Chartered Management Institute and XpertHR also revealed that men were 40 per cent more likely than women to have been promoted into big-money jobs in the past year.

The gender pay gap for managers is actually higher in the Midlands than the UK average of 22.8 per cent and means female managers are £8,524 a year worse off on average.

This comes after the general pay gap between the sexes also increased last year – to almost £5,500.

The average full-time equivalent salary for male managers now stands at £38,817.

The pay gap is even higher for those in the ranks of director and CEO, with men on an average basic salary of £131,673 earning £16,513 more than women at the same level.

In November 2015, the Government announced plans for new legislation to tackle the gender pay gap, including making it compulsory for large companies to report on how much they pay their male and female staff. The regulations are due to come into effect in April 2017.

Ann Francke, chief executive of CMI, says that the imminent pay reporting regulations will focus employers on closing the gender pay gap in their organisations: “Promoting men ahead of women is keeping us all back. Diversity delivers better financial results, better culture and better decision making.

“Even before the new regulations kick in, employers need to get on board with reporting on their recruitment and promotion policies and how much they pay their men and women. Transparency and targets are what we need to deal with stubborn problems like the gender pay gap.”

In other findings, there are also fewer women in executive positions than men. While women comprise 73 per cent of the workforce in entry and junior level roles, female representation drops to 42 per cent at the level of senior management.