Almost half of UK businesses use manual processes to calculate gender pay gap data
As the gender pay reporting deadline approaches businesses are using spreadsheets that are prone to error
London, 4th April, 2019 – Two years after the Government introduced mandatory gender pay gap reporting, new research shows that the majority of businesses have no sure fire way of accurately capturing the data.
The research, conducted by Orgvue with over 400 finance and HR decision makers in the UK and US, found that just 53% of UK businesses are using workforce planning and analytics software for gender pay reporting, with the majority using manual methods like spreadsheets.
Gender and ethnic diversity are key indicators of profitability and value creation(*) and yet figures from last year highlighted a gender pay gap of 9.7%. But in 2018 experts reported that businesses are getting their gender pay gap calculations wrong as a result of manual calculation errors, with one in six companies misreporting their numbers.
The good news is that 68% of UK respondents reported that they are working on projects to automate the collection of diversity data and 65% are doing so when it comes to gender pay.
45% of respondents said they used specialist software for aggregating and cleansing HR data and 41% were using it to generate headcount cost analysis, but the rest are still relying on spreadsheets.
Despite not having the right tools in place, 32% see tackling diversity and inclusion as a priority for the year ahead. Although this figure was behind other strategic priorities such as cost reduction (56%), risk and compliance (46%), digital transformation (45%) and supporting market expansion (35%).
Rupert Morrison, CEO, Orgvue, commented: “Whether it’s for reporting their pay gap or enabling HR and finance teams to model the future of their organisation, it’s clear that companies need to up their people data game. There are no official government checks and balances in place when it comes to gender pay reporting, but to ensure data is trustworthy organisations need to have the right processes in place rather than relying on manual number crunching. The alternative is everyone working overtime to pull information together from disparate sources in a panic as the deadline approaches.”
“In most businesses, the HR-Finance relationship is one that’s conducted at arm’s length. But it’s only with the two departments working together in tandem that companies can start to properly understand and report on their people data. With accurate data businesses can go beyond simply reporting and start to make decisions and address problems like the gender pay gap based on live insights into the people in their organisations. The alternative is costly and inefficient guesswork,“ Morrison concluded.
*McKinsey: January 2018, Delivering Through Diversity.
ENDS
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About Concentra Analytics:
Concentra Analytics builds SaaS data products that enable businesses to capture, manage, and analyze data to improve their operations. Its flagship product, Orgvue, is the leading SaaS workforce analysis and modelling solution used by business, finance, and HR leaders to plan and optimize organizations on an ongoing basis. Alongside Orgvue, Concentra’s other products include SupplyVue for holistic supply chain optimization and DataPlus for data warehouse automation.
Orgvue is headquartered in London and works with over 100 enterprise clients from offices in Philadelphia, The Hague, and Hong Kong.