Gender pay gap reporting has led to a few embarrassments in industry since it became mandatory, with IKEA the latest global brand forced to admit to a gender pay gap of 6.1 per cent. The company’s survey found that men earned higher salaries in the retail business; however, women earned higher salaries on the distribution side. For the retail business, men earned 6.1 per cent more on average; in distribution, women earned 0.9 per cent more.
The furniture giant’s workforce comprises just over 50 per cent women, with 10,000 retail employees running the online e-commerce business and store network; in contrast, 17 per cent of the 900-strong staff in distribution are female. In the UK, IKEA’s distribution and retail businesses are separately registered, with senior managers falling within the retail arm.
Although a gender gap exists within IKEA, the disparity is less pronounced than the UK’s average gap of 18 per cent. John Lewis reported a gap of 7.8 per cent, while Debenhams only had a gender pay gap of 0.3 per cent. Mandatory gender pay reporting came in this April for companies with 250 staff or more. The government now requires these companies to submit official data for mean and median pay broken down by gender. Around 9,000 businesses fall within the eligibility category for this reporting, with those that missed the 4 April deadline potentially facing legal action.
Gender reporting is likely to continue to be a challenge for larger businesses in the UK, especially as these firms are then forced to deal with the implications of their pay awards and remuneration strategies of old. For SMEs and startups, the opportunity to offer true equality of pay is perhaps easier to deliver, especially with women entrepreneurs growing in number.
Century Business Finance offers business loans for all purposes. Whether businesses need to recruit, address pay discrepancies, rework recruitment processes to address gender bias or send managers on training courses, Century Business Finance can offer ready finance at attractive terms.
Our offer includes;
– Unsecured business lending of £25k to £500k.
– Secured asset finance of £20k to £1m, with interest repayments for secured asset finance 100 per cent tax deductible.
– Interest rates from 4.8 per cent.
– Flexible repayment terms of six months to five years.
– No upfront fees or hidden costs.
– The ability to repay the loan early without fees.
– Loans for all business purposes.
– Fixed repayments for ease of planning.
– The help and advice of an expert finance team.
– No meetings or complex paperwork required.
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We have an extremely fast process and offer loans to nine out of ten business applicants. The application process takes just five minutes and uses a short online form. Our team will make an instant lending decision and the funds can be in your bank account the following day, enabling you to move ahead with your business plans quickly and without needing to tie up your precious working capital.
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Our helpful team is on hand to answer any queries you may have – just give us a call and we will be delighted to help. Alternatively, complete the short application form online today for an instant lending decision. We are open for business and actively lending!
