Men at top must take lead to end the pay gap

The latest gender pay gap numbers are dispiriting; nearly half of UK companies’ pay gaps have widened since they were first reported last year. It is disappointing, but hardly surprising. In 2018, only one-fifth of companies published an action plan setting out how they were aiming to close their gap, and most have simply gone about their business as usual. The usual explanations are bandied about: “It’s because we operate in a maledominated sector”; “There are so few women at the top”; and now, “It’ll take a lot longer than a year”.

Listing out excuses is not going to change anything. Unless we are prepared to resign ourselves to a gender pay gap Groundhog Day every April, companies need bold action plans and the commitment to match.

I am 100pc certain that a few more gender diversity initiatives are not going to suffice. The gender pay gap is the result of decades, if not centuries, of lesser career opportunities for women, different societal expectations about our roles and unequal pay – for the same job. Yet rather than tackling underlying attitudes and culture, most existing workplace gender-equality efforts – however well-intentioned – are peripheral to business strategy. They are “special interest” rather than “mission critical”.

For a start, the problem is often delegated to women to sort out. The same can be said for other underrepresented groups, such as BAME, LGBTQ and disabled people. Women talking to women about women’s issues is never going to get us very far. We need those in power – still mostly

men – to create the space and opportunity for us to join them.

The good news is that it is hard to find a chief executive these days who does not say that gender – and more broadly – diversity is important to their company’s future prospects.

Most will extol the virtues of diversity of thought when it comes to decision-making, creativity and innovation.

Yet the reality is that few actually behave as if they believe this. The gender pay gap problem and the evident lack of progress should catalyse a different approach; instead of asking women to sort out their own under-representation at the top, the executive management team – usually mostly men – should lead the charge.

This worked so well for The 30% Club when it came to improving the numbers of women on UK corporate boards; once the chairmen “owned” the issue – and the vast majority of FTSE 100 chairs are men – progress was made quickly, from 12.5pc women on FTSE 100 boards in 2010 to 31.4pc today.

And we need to be brave enough to jettison off-target efforts. If other business-critical objectives are not being met, we review the approach and consider alternative paths forward. We do not just tend to carry on regardless. Diversity initiatives tend to be treated as sacrosanct rather than properly measured for effectiveness. For example, mandatory, simple, unconscious-bias training is counterproductive, yet most large companies use it.

At this point, with so many companies already feeling a sense of gender diversity fatigue – yes, really – discouraged about the results of their efforts to date, it is time to change tactics. I would love to see more focus on the “other” side of the gender equality and pay gap equation: what this all means for men.

Unless and until there are broader definitions of success for the modern man than simply a big job title and salary, it is going to be very hard for women to take advantage of career opportunities.

This is where I am more optimistic. I speak at many schools, universities and business schools and believe that the next generation of young men and women hold the key. They expect to share the upbringing of their future families, to work efficiently – rather than every hour – and to be equal partners with their husbands or wives.

Smart companies get this and are already shaking up their ways of working to be relevant in a digital age, enabling men as well as women to live balanced lives. It is an exciting development and an approach that more companies should take if they want to attract and retain the best and brightest young people – and really decisively and irreversibly close the gender pay gap.

Dame Helena Morrissey is Head of Personal Investing at Legal & General Investment Management and founder of The 30% Club

‘Smart companies are already shaking up their ways of working to enable men and women to live more balanced lives’ Helena Morrissey