New toolkit helps North East businesses reduce gender pay gap

A practical toolkit for employers on how to reduce their gender pay gap has been launched by North East England Chamber of Commerce with support from Home Group.

All of the toolkit’s help and advice was prepared by the Chamber’s Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF) using the housing provider’s recommendations.

The information aims to encourage businesses to have a fair working environment and salary scheme and also highlights the economic benefits of having a diverse workforce.

Nusheen Hussain, executive director, Business Development, Home Group and Chamber’s WLF member said: “We urge every member of the North East business community to use our toolkit and build fairness into the very essence of their companies and organisations.

“If we are to recover quickly from the pandemic it is paramount everyone gets a wage that is appropriate to their efforts and all employees are not discriminated against in any way.

“At Home Group we believe our strong inclusive culture and leadership support has been fundamental to where we are today as an organisation that has embraced equality, diversity and inclusion. But we still have much work to do and continue with focussed attention, passion and effort towards gender parity within the workplace.”

The toolkit offers a guide for businesses to gather pay gap information and address discrepancies between male and female employees. This includes collecting data and publishing it on the website and using it to create an action plan for change.

It also recommends prioritising training and mentoring for women to encourage them to go into leadership. In Home Group’s Women into Leadership programme 32 per cent of women on it gained promotion within just six months.

Nusheen added: “The important part of narrowing a pay gap is to ensure you stay curious. Keep listening, learning and acting on colleague voices and evolving your approach. Also look externally for broader networks and insights that may help.”

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