I had an interesting conversation with Anthony Horrigan, CEO of Spktral. As you may be aware I am a Non-Exec Director of Spktral. We often have discussions about pay gaps as you can imagine, particularly because Spktral are pay gap analysis experts who advised the previous government on how to present Ethnicity Pay Gap Data.
Our discussion was on the Ethnicity Pay Gap. Anthony recently had an epiphany which made a lot of sense to me. I and many others have focused on the need for organisations to deal with the Ethnicity Pay Gap in their organisations. This is of course an important ask to ensure that employees are paid fairly. Anthony identified that external factors also play a part in creating an Ethnicity Pay Gap.
Socio-economic standing, where you live, lack of access to opportunities, education etc. It could take you much longer to reach what you believe to be a good level in a working environment due to obstacles being put in your way. As an example, my socio-economic background was not great. I had limited opportunities, I didn’t have access to many things and my education was blighted by substandard teaching and lack of concern from teachers. It has taken me a long time to get to where I am today. If I didn’t have those challenges I may have got to where I am today much sooner.
In our conversation, we recognised that organisations did not create the Ethnicity Pay Gap, it is just one of many factors that has caused it to happen. We also recognised that there is a lack of education about how to address this issue. You may say, there is a lot of information out there, we would agree with this statement however, is the information correct? There is a lot of misinformation out there causing an organisation to gather their data in such a way that doesn’t give them a true picture of what is happening in their organisation.
Spktral has for many years advocated for a pause on the approach that many are taking for pay gap data analysis. Spktral has not only advocated for change it has excelled by creating a specialist software application and employing a statistician with Anthony himself being a pay gap Data Analyst and all-around genius in my opinion. Our clients have benefitted from the expertise provided. I am sure they would admit to being nervous initially, however, I am sure they are very appreciative of the support that they have been given.
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