Top 10 stories from this week: government stops short of mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting

The longstanding call for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting, similar to gender pay gap reporting, has been firmly kicked into the long grass. Despite hopes that it would be made compulsory, the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will instead publish guidance to employers on voluntary reporting this summer.

The aim is to give employers the tools to understand and tackle pay gaps within their organisations and build trust with employees. Those that do choose to publish their ethnicity pay gap must also publish a diagnosis and action plan.

It remains to be seen how effective the new non-mandatory measures will be in helping employers to identify the causes of pay disparities and to take relevant steps to mitigate them. REBA’s DEI Benefits Research 2022, released this week found that just 28% of organisations carry out ethnicity pay gap reporting – but 69% struggle to recruit a more ethnically diverse workforce and 81% lack diversity at leadership level.

The value of a diverse and inclusive organisation is irrefutable. We can only hope that this new approach will be strong enough to drive a more inclusive working environment for all.

For more reward and employee benefits news you might have missed this week, read our top 10 snippets below.

Ethnicity pay gap reporting will not be mandatory

Personnel Today: The government says it will ‘help’ organisations with ethnicity pay gap reporting but stops short of making it mandatory. It will also discourage the use of ‘unhelpful’ terms such as BAME, and will pursue policies to improve inclusion at work, according to its response to last year’s Sewell report. Read more

FTSE 100 disappoints on Parker Review diversity goal

HR Magazine: Eleven FTSE 100 companies have failed to meet the Parker Review’s goal to have at least one director from a minority ethnic background by December 2021. Read more

Labour market data points to older worker 'exodus' as vacancies continue to rise

People Management: Tens of thousands of workers over the age of 50 have left the workplace since the start of the pandemic, official figures have shown, at a time when vacancies are continuing to increase. Read more

Employee support should reflect new working models: GRiD

Cover Magazine: Research from Group Risk Development (GRiD) has found that 59% of employers who moved to remote or hybrid working have changed health and wellbeing support to reflect the new working patterns. Read more

UK's approach to resilience and wellbeing not fit for purpose, say Lords

HR Magazine: The UK’s current approach to resilience and wellbeing is not fit for purpose, according to a new Parliamentary report.

Living in a Covid World, published by the House of Lords Covid-19 Committee, concluded that the UK needs more focus on long-term issues and must put a greater emphasis on peoples’ wellbeing. Read more

Seven in 10 employees hiding money concerns at work, poll finds

People Management: Almost seven in 10 employees are engulfed in money worries at work despite employers dedicating more resources to financial wellbeing, a report has warned. Read more

Average earnings growth for regular pay rises by 4%

Employee Benefits: The average earnings growth for regular pay that does not include bonuses was 4% from November 2021 to January 2022, behind the current inflation level of 6% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Read more

Hybrid switch sees Meta axe famous work perks

HR Grapevine: The days of Meta (formerly Facebook) employees receiving lavish perks may be coming to an end. Employees in Silicon Valley who previously enjoyed a free laundry and dry-cleaning service were informed on Friday in an internal Meta post that this service has been cut. Read more

Out of hours work ban would find support among majority of employees

Workplace Insight: A new poll from researchers Ipsos reveals the majority of UK adults aged 16-75 are in favour of introducing a law giving employees the right to ignore work-related communications, such as emails, texts and instant messages, outside of their official working/on-call hours. Read more

Guaranteed hours essential to business resilience

HR Magazine: Nearly a third (32%) of working adults in the UK are given less than a week’s notice of their working hours, research published by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) has found. Read more

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