A new pilot programme is encouraging employers to publish salary details in job adverts, and refrain from asking applicants about their previous pay.
Companies will be asked to include salaries in job adverts under a Government initiative to combat the embedded bias against women created by “ambiguous pay policies and historic pay decisions”.
Announced this morning to coincide with International Women’s Day, the initiative’s participants will also refrain from asking applicants about their salary history. It is believed this will help close the gender pay gap.
Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, said it is essential “that we keep women at the forefront of the levelling-up agenda as we recover from the pandemic”. Numerous studies during the past two years have shown that women’s financial security has been hit harder by lockdowns, furlough and job losses than that of men.
The Minister added that listing a salary range, together with non-disclosure of salary history, provides a firmer footing to negotiate pay on a fairer basis. This is true across all groups but particularly amongst women, 58 per cent of whom say they felt they received a lower salary offer than they would have if the question had not been asked during the application process.
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said salary history questions mean that past pay discrimination follows women and other groups throughout their careers creating “embedded bias” in the recruitment process.
“Evidence from US states which have banned asking about past salary shows that is a simple, evidence-led way to improve pay equality for women, people of colour and disabled people,” she said.
“This is an important first step. We hope more employers will answer this call, and sign Fawcett’s pledge, as part of other actions to tackle their pay gaps.”
The Government has also announced a second initiative designed to help women return to science, technology, engineering & maths (STEM) careers.
The pilot will target women who stepped away from work to fulfil caring responsibilities and comes after a 2021 survey found that 61% of STEM returners found the process difficult. Those who did return commented on being over-qualified for their role and had entered at levels below where they were prior to their break.
Construction set to begin on new 'once in a generation' Scottish golf resort
Work is set to get underway this summer on a £100 million golf resort, hotel and spa in the Angus countryside after councillors approved an updated masterplan for the "once in a generation" luxury destination.
With ambitions to become a resort unlike anything seen in Scotland for decades, the development on the Shank of Omachie near Broughty Ferry will boast Dundee and Angus’s first five-star hotel.
Colliers upbeat on Scottish property outlook
Industrial properties, retail warehouses, prime offices and premises for life sciences businesses have been tipped to be in high demand this year.
The forecast comes from commercial property specialist Colliers, which expects UK all-property returns growth to moderate to 9.6 per cent in 2022 and 6.4% in 2023 as rental growth slows and yields stabilise. Its predictions for this year and next come after UK all-property returns growth hit a six-year high of 16.5% in 2021.
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