Great Britain: government launches a pilot scheme on salary transparency

On 08 March, International Women’s Day, the UK government unveiled a new pilot scheme that participating companies will be testing. The employers participating in this test, the names and number of which have not been revealed, will have to apply two measures. First, participating employers will be listing salary details on their job adverts, and second, they will stop asking interview candidates for their salary history during the interview process. In this way the executive believes these changes will allow women to negotiate their salaries on a gender-neutral basis. A study by the Fawcett Society, a leading UK charity that campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights found that providing salary history makes everyone less confident and in particular females, 58% of whom feel they are offered a lower salary because of their previous salary. “We believe that increased pay transparency will build on positive evidence of the role information can play when it comes to empowering women in the workplace,” said Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, who did not specify how long the pilot phase would run. The government has also introduced a new returners scheme, to help women back into the STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) sector. Specifically for women who have taken a career break to care for a loved one, this program will encourage employers to recruit talent despite the presence of a gap on their CVs and will support those looking to return to work after having taken a career-break (through training, development, and employment measures).