Our thoughts on ethnicity pay reporting

Written on our original website in March 2019.

The government has been consulting with employers on the possibility of making ethnicity pay reporting mandatory. We think as many employers as possible should fill this out and make the reporting mandatory.

We’ve always prioritised stories over stats when it comes to the experiences of marginalised and minoritised communities. In a world where we’re often silenced, ignored and underrepresented, we see the need to create a space where people can share their experiences without being made to feel they’re imagining things or being over-sensitive.

As a company, we’re automatically suspicious of anyone saying ‘do you have the stats to back up what you’re saying?’ when we talk about discrimination and oppression. That goes for pay discrimination against employees from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds too. We’ve heard some horrendous stories where people are not getting paid equally to their white counterparts, or looked over for a promotion, or made to run around in red-tape hell just to prove their worth. It’s exhausting.

In a world where we’re often silenced, ignored and underrepresented, we see the need to create a space where people can share their experiences without being made to feel they’re imagining things or being over-sensitive.

Nevertheless, we also believe that for employers to take action, ethnicity pay reporting needs to become mandatory. In April 2018, employers had to report on their gender pay gaps. Anyone can view this data and compare companies. As the one-year mark approaches, companies will not only have to submit up-to-date information, but they will also have to show what steps have been taken since they reported a year ago. By making the information on ethnicity pay gaps openly available for anyone to access, CEOs and senior management will be even more accountable. It will give a sense of transparency and confirm what we as people of colour already know.

But it can’t be seen as the single fix for a deeply rooted problem. It needs to be used in conjunction with other diversity and inclusion work, like training to make people aware of their biases and discriminatory behaviours (which is what we do with our EDUCATION programme), as well as audits of companies’ cultures and recruitment and HR practices. It’s up to all of us to educate ourselves on how to create more inclusive workplace cultures, but it also needs to come with support at a leadership level.

If you’d like support with this - get in contact!