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Since launching corporate records in 2017, differences in wages between men and women in the UK have gradually narrowed. But the way statistics are compiled also tells the story of gender balance in business.
Gender gaps among those reporting their first shutdown of gender pay gap data this year. After a longtime man was responsible for the data, the woman may now register for official submissions on the matter.
According to FT analysis, the movement towards gender balance is likely to be women and is driven by more HR workers who are responsible for data previously registered by more senior staff.
However, according to workforce analysts, this does not reflect a decrease in the importance of wage equality in business. They say the change reflects the increasingly important role HR experts are taking in strategic areas of business, such as wages and labor planning.
In 2017, the first year of mandatory gender pay gaps, the typical person responsible for approving wage gap numbers was a senior leader, such as a CEO, board member or other director.
However, by 2024, HR personnel were the most common employees overseeing functions. After more than two-fifths of employers, we left the HR staff to give them a seal of approval to pay gap figures from one-third of 2017.
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The FT analysis showed that 70% of this HR group had female names compared to 20% of CEOs. As a result, women now account for almost half of the “responsible persons” for submitting wage gaps.
Marks, Spencer, Nando and AstraZeneca are among the larger organizations that have changed the heads from CEO to senior HR figures. M&S said it is “focused on providing the best place for work,” and says half of its board and senior leaders are women. Nando’s and Astrazeneca declined to comment.
“Calculating wage gaps requires a deeper understanding of regulations and high-quality people’s data,” says Andrew Curcio, partner in the PWC’s compensation and benefits team. “This job naturally fits into the teams closest to these, which is a function of the people and rewards of the organization.”
It is also a sign that Pay Gap Reporting has been established. Employers may have initially included the names of senior leaders to show that it was being taken seriously, says Tom Heys, who pays for the reporting lead at law firm Lewis Silkin. “But over time they put who the real people were and whether they could provide answers to any questions people might have.”
The change follows a broader trend for traditionally women-dominated HR functions to play a more pivotal role in business, according to Daniel Inberg, senior director of consultant Mercer. Increasingly, the organization “has HR in the C suite, not the lower layer,” he added. “It’s a good time to join HR.”
This means boosting women in some companies. In 2023, nearly two-thirds of HR workers in the UK and Ireland were women.
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Companies that HR paid for gap data report slightly less inequality. The women in the group’s employers won 92 points per man who earned pounds two more points than where CEOs and boards have final say. However, gaps were similarly reduced in both groups.
FT analyzed names and job titles submitted to the heads in over 68,000 submissions to the government’s gender pay gap service from 2017 to 2024. The role of HR included keywords related to people, rewards, talents and DEI.
Gender was categorized based on name using an academic database.
