Further to our recent article, a new report has found that 23% of organisations are now collecting ethnicity pay gap data.
Ethnicity Pay Gap Data
A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found that the number of businesses who are now voluntarily collecting ethnicity pay gap data has increased from just 5% in 2018, to 23%, an increase of 18% over the last 2 years.
The PwC report, in which over 100 businesses were interviewed, also found that:-
- The number of organisations now collecting data relating to ethnicity has increased from 53% in 2018 to 67% now
- Of those 23% of businesses that have collected ethnicity pay gap data, 40% have already published it, whilst 50% are planning to publish it over the next 3 years
- The reasons cited for not collecting and calculating ethnicity pay gaps are a lack of data, with some blaming GDPR, "unease about how to ask questions around race and ethnicity", difficulties with HR systems, and poor response rates. 70% of businesses stated that they are deploying measures to encourage staff to provide them with more data on ethnicity.
- 77% of organisations are taking steps to reduce unconscious bias
- 70% of business are developing a specific strategy to improve diversity
- 63% of firms are looking to enhance access to work
Reaction
The director of PwC’s HR consulting practice, Katy Bennett, stated: "It’s very encouraging to see so many more companies taking action to collect, analyse and publish their ethnicity pay gap data. Doing this is a critical first step towards identifying the actions that will drive real and sustainable change.......Collecting, analysing and reporting ethnicity pay gaps is an important first step for an organisation, but reporting on its own will not drive change. Ultimately, the key is the insight that this data provides into where change is most needed. By measuring inclusion as well as diversity, organisations can gain a holistic understanding of where improvements can best be made."
JHR consulting actuary and data scientist at PwC, Jason Buwanabala, added: "In order to address inequalities caused by systemic and structural biases, organisations should be looking across the entire employee experience to ensure fairness in areas such as recruitment, progression and attrition - and data is critical here. There are undoubtedly challenges when it comes to collecting and analysing information on ethnicity in the workplace and the companies we’ve spoken to reflect some of these in their concerns - data protection, technological capacity and low response rates are big ones. Improving data quality should be a priority for organisations but this shouldn’t prevent them from starting the process by using the data they already have."
Parliamentary Debate
A petition calling for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting garnered more than 130,000 signatures back in June 2020. Having hit the target of receiving 100,000 signatures, therefore, the subject of the petition must now be considered for a debate in parliament, but that debate has yet to be scheduled. Moreover, a Government consultation on ethnicity pay gap reporting closed way back in January 2019, but no outcome has ever been published. Nevertheless, a cross-government commission (the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities), to be overseen by Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, was set up last June to examine inequality across the board, including in the work place. The commission is due to report with recommendations by the end of 2020.
