Housing’s gender pay gap problem: find data for 47 associations

By comparison, last year Inside Housing found that 84% of housing associations had a median gender pay gap in favour of men and 12% had one in favour of women. Four per cent had no gap.

This year, the proportion of associations with a gap in favour of men has fallen to just over 80%, while 13% have a gap in favour of women and just under 7% have no gap.

But how can associations eliminate a gap? Heather Ashton, executive director of resources at 34,000-home Thirteen, which cut its median gender pay gap from 0.2% to zero, says there is “no magic formula”. However she says it helps that Thirteen attracts “a good mix of males and females”: men account for 50.1% and women 49.9% of its 1,500 employees, and staff within the top two pay quartiles are “pretty balanced”.

That said, the proportion of women fell within every quartile in a year. This could be a result of women taking time out to have children or progress their careers at other organisations, says Ms Ashton.

The EHRC’s report highlights areas that employers could focus on to reduce their gender pay gap: recruitment, development and promotion; flexible working; caring and shared parental leave; apprenticeships; positive action; bonuses and performance-related pay; and monitoring data. Suggested actions include anonymising CVs and application forms, trialling new ways of working, enhancing the statutory minimum paternity leave and using positive action in apprenticeships.

Ms Ashton says that factors contributing to Thirteen’s pay parity include family-friendly policies, flexible working arrangements such as part-time and home working, and the use of “spot salaries” – as opposed to graded pay bands – for individual job roles across the organisation. This means that an administrator earns the same whether they work in HR, finance or property services.

“The other thing we have done is to recognise [that] for some people, working flexibly means having the right kit as well,” says Ms Ashton. “We have made a conscious effort to push out more laptops and tablets so they can do the first couple of hours from home around taking the kids to school.”

Back at Your Housing Group, Mr Joyce says agile working has had “a massive impact”. “It’s not just working from home, because I think that is old hat,” he says of the association’s approach. It is about working “wherever you want, however you want, whenever you want”.

The landlord is being “more creative” about how it fills senior roles, says Mr Joyce, recognising that its gender pay gap is due to not having enough women in top jobs. It offers flexibility including part-time work and condensed hours. “There is no rule,” he says. “We are open to anything.”

The organisation, which has a target of having 50% of roles in its four highest pay bands filled by women by 2025, is attracting talent from inside and outside the sector as a result. Mr Joyce highlights the appointment of Dawn Williams, who joined last year as director of business planning and who works a four-day week.

Your Housing Group launched a Women’s Working Group – since renamed Balance for Better by its 20 (female) members – last year to inform the (male) executive team of perceived barriers to career progression for female staff. One result is a new leadership scheme, expected to launch later this year, which will pair female employees with a mentor from the executive team.

Mr Joyce says that the group is also “self-reflecting”, considering whether women need to challenge and improve some of their own behaviour in the workplace. He points to negotiating skills; in his HR role, he has a much tougher time discussing pay with men than women.

Ms Dibb says that sometimes women “don’t put themselves forward” and WISH supports women to be more confident.

However, progress also lies in making men aware of the challenges women face. “There’s no point just preaching to the converted and talking to a room full of women,” says Ms Dibb. “We need to be talking to the men as well and opening their eyes to the issues.”

For now, women continue to be short-changed.

Inside Housing’s Inclusive Futures campaign aims to promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion.

We are pledging to publish diversity audits of our own coverage.

We are also committed to proactively promoting positive role models.

We will do this through the pages of Inside Housing. But we will also seek to support other publications and events organisations to be more inclusive.

Our Inclusive Futures Bureau will provide a database of speakers and commentators from all backgrounds, for use by all media organisations.

We are also challenging readers to take five clear steps to promote diversity, informed by the Chartered Institute of Housing’s diversity commission and the Leadership 2025 project.

Click here to read more or to sign up for more information

INSIDE HOUSING’S PLEDGES

We will take proactive steps to promote positive role models from under-represented groups and provide information to support change.

We pledge to:

Publish diversity audits: We will audit the diversity of the commentators we feature. We will formalise this process and publish the results for future audits twice a year.

Promote role models: We will work to highlight leading lights from specific under-represented groups, starting in early 2018 with our new BME Leaders List.

Launch Inclusive Futures Bureau: We will work with the sector to compile a database of speakers, commentators and experts from under-represented groups. The bureau will be available to events organisers, media outlets and publications to support them to better represent the talent in the sector.

Take forward the Women in Housing Awards: Inside Housing has taken on these successful awards and will work to grow and develop them.

Convene Inclusive Futures Summit: Our new high-level event will support organisations to develop and implement strategies to become more diverse and inclusive.

THE CASE FOR CHANGE

34%

of housing association chief executives are female

1%

of housing association executives have a disability

1.6%

of housing association board members are LGBT

Women make up 46% of the UK workforce, but Inside Housing research found that they are under-represented on housing association boards (36%), executive teams (39%) and among chief executives (34%).

Almost a fifth of working-age adults have a disability (18%), yet associations reported only 1% of executives and 4.5% of board members with a disability. Many were unable to provide details.

Nationwide, 14% of the working-age population come from a BME background, climbing to 40% in London and Birmingham. Yet our research found that 6.8% of board members identified as BME, compared with 4.5% of executives.

Statistics on representation of LGBT people in the workforce are in short supply, but official statistics suggest that 2% of the total UK population identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, rising to 4.1% for 16 to 24-year-olds. Our survey found that 1.6% of board members and 10 executives were LGBT – but most organisations were unable to provide figures.

Click here to read the full research

THE INCLUSIVE FUTURES CHALLENGE

Inside Housing calls on organisations to sign up to an inclusive future by taking five steps:

Prioritise diversity and inclusion at the top: commitment and persistence from chief executives, directors and chairs in setting goals and monitoring progress.

Collect data on the diversity of your board, leadership and total workforce and publish annually with your annual report. Consider gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, age, and representation of tenants on the board.

Set aspirational targets for recruitment to the executive team, board and committees from under-represented groups.

Challenge recruiting staff and agencies to ensure that all shortlists include candidates from under-represented groups.

Make diversity and inclusion a core theme in your talent management strategy to ensure you support people from under-represented groups to progress their careers.