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Homes England pledges to combat ‘unacceptable’ 18.4% gender pay gap
The chief executive of Homes England has branded the 18.4% gender pay gap at the organisation “not remotely acceptable”.
The government’s housing delivery arm – launched out of the former Homes and Communities Agency in January – published its first gender pay gap report today.
It showed a gender pay gap of 18.4%, based on a comparison of female and male hourly pay across the agency irrespective of grade.
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The average for the civil service is 10.6% and the national average is the same as Homes England at 18.4%.
The report said the “initial analysis” suggests the gap is mainly driven by the lack of women at more senior levels in the agency. The gender pay gap measurement compares rates of pay between men and women in the organisation irrespective of role.
Nick Walkley, chief executive of Homes England, said on Twitter: “Our gender pay gap isn’t remotely acceptable to me.”
In his foreword to the report, he added: “Although this is the same as the national average, it is not a position that is remotely acceptable to us as an organisation.
“It is no secret that our sector isn’t very well represented when it comes to women in senior positions and our report illustrates that this is the primary cause of our own pay gap. We must change this as quickly as possible.
“I expect to see Homes England’s workforce grow over the next few years to help us to meet the challenge of getting more homes built across the country. As we do so, we will support our female employees at all levels of the organisation to develop their talents and be ready to access opportunities for promotion and personal growth.”
Inside Housing is currently running its Inclusive Futures campaign, which has several asks aimed at making the sector more diverse in senior positions (see below).
When specific roles at Homes England were compared, the gaps were most pronounced at director level, which had a gap of 14.6% in terms of pay. For senior specialists and analysts, the gaps were 1.5% and 2.3% respectively.
The agency set out a number of ways it is trying to deal with the gap, including the introduction of “name-blind recruitment” into recruitment processes and requiring all recruiting managers and new staff to complete unconscious bias training.
In addition, it will mandate that all Homes England recruitment panels are mixed gender from April, as well as numerous other measures.
Organisations with 250 or more employees are required by law to produce a gender pay gap report this year.
Inclusive Futures
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.
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 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.
