Blog: Only 10,000 employers to go…

This morning I was rushing around pulling together a list of ingredients for dinner tonight – we have friends coming over and I’m cooking Greek (modern, not medieval, for a change). Admittedly yesterday I was busy doing other things, but I could have taken fifteen minutes out last night to check what I need and start my morning off without the rush.

Anyway, this got me to thinking about why I (and we, in general) leave things to the last minute and cause ourselves some major hassle. It’s not that we always do it on purpose, but I have noticed from discussions with clients that the GPG reporting seems to be the one time when many are deliberately waiting until the last possible moment to publish.

This may be because their numbers are not as great as they would like, or because they are waiting for sign off, or simply because they don’t want to be highly visible. Or maybe it’s because they do not want to have their numbers questioned by the press.

My concern is that everyone seems to have forgotten that we are all doing this for the first time. The calculations are not as straightforward as they could be, the regulations are not absolutely 100% clear about who and what to include/exclude, and the fear of being called out, or even ridiculed, for getting it wrong is strong. No organisation wants to have their name dragged through the mud because the press do not believe their numbers. We all understand that, and hands up anyone who did not feel at least a twinge of sympathy for the companies who published low or zero pay gaps recently, only to revisit them because the Financial Times pounced on them.

As I write, only 1,500 employers have reported their GPG figures and, with only 4 weeks left until the deadline, it is estimated that there another 10,000 employers left. Are you one of the 10,000?

If you have done your calculations, and you are confident in your numbers, then I say crack on and publish them now and get it over with. The worst thing that can happen is that someone will notice them – but then President Trump will post another tweet or there will be more dire Brexit warnings and everyone will forget what the fuss was all about.

And if you’d like us to double-check your figures, just get in touch. But quickly!

Jane Baalam
Pay & Reward Specialist

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