The majority of U.S. and U.K. corporate workers want employer mandates to show how much they are paying women compared to men—but if that meant giving up some key perks, then nevermind, according to the beqom report, “The Gender Pay Gap: What Your Employees Really Think.”

beqom surveyed 1,600 employed adults in the U.S. and U.K. who work at companies of 250+ employees (in the U.K., companies with more than 250 employees are required to comply with gender pay gap reporting). A majority of U.K. respondents (74 percent) support the national employer mandate, and 72 percent of U.S. respondents say there should be a similar law in their country.

However, most of the respondents from both countries are “unwilling to shoulder a personal impact to close pay gaps,” according to the report.

Only one in three (34 percent) of the respondents say they would give up workplace perks, such as free lunches, unlimited vacation and work from home options, if it meant that women were paid equally to men in their company—and more than four in 10 (43 percent) would not.

“In combination, these responses reveal that most workers strongly want pay equity to be addressed, but they expect the cost and burden of addressing pay equity to be borne by their employers and lawmakers,” the authors write. “Employers have the opportunity to create a competitive recruiting and retention advantage by becoming outspoken advocates for pay equity, in messaging and in actions.”

With that said, a majority (60 percent) of the respondents both in the U.S. and U.K. say their own workplace does not have a gender pay gap problem, and just 19 percent rate pay gaps due to gender, race, age or CEO-to-employee pay ratios as the biggest workplace issue at their job.

“Employees are likely basing their opinions on feelings or anecdotes rather than data,” the authors write. “Fewer than 20 percent of the organizations surveyed by Gartner said they communicate pay gap figures and plans to achieve pay equity externally or to employees. Companies that take the lead and control pay gap messaging, context and data have an opportunity to differentiate and gain the trust and loyalty of their workforce.”

Other key survey findings include:

More U.S. workers (21 percent) are unaware of gender pay gaps than U.K. workers (17 percent); among age groups, millennials (24 percent) are the most unaware, compared to 16 percent of Gen Zers and 11 percent of baby boomers.
Nearly one-third of U.K. workers (32 percent) say their employer has announced a commitment to solve the pay gap, compared to 13 percent of U.S. workers. Additionally, more U.K. workers (18 percent) say their employer has adjusted salaries for female employees compared to U.S. workers (15 percent) and more U.K. workers (24 percent) say their employer recently created an internal mentoring/training system for employees than U.S. workers (19 percent).
Less than half (49.8 percent) of telecommunications and software/technology workers believes their employer/manager takes closing the gender pay gap seriously. Additionally, millennials (47 percent) in all industry sectors are the least likely to believe their manager/employer takes closing the gender pay gap seriously, compared to Gen Zers (54 percent) and baby boomers (52 percent).
More than a third (37 percent) of software/technology workers say they would seek a job at a company that disclosed a lower gender pay gap than the company they currently work for. By generation, Gen Zers (70 percent) are the most likely to say they would be more willing to work at a company that discloses its gender pay gap figure each year over millennials (60 percent) or baby boomers (62 percent).

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Instant Insights /

Employees welcome pay gap disclosures, as long as it doesn't affect them

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