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Submission - ASL Recruitment Good morning,
Here is some anecdotal thoughts on the questions – however it might be useful for you to meet with agency representatives as collectively are a rich source of information for you.
- Do you think there is a gender pay gap in Jersey? No
- Do you have any evidence to support your perception?
Roles we have are skills and qualifications based – this is what drives any difference in pay
There is a lack of diversity at board level – so in most organisations – collectively men earn more than women.
We have ladies who register who are looking for a less senior role that doesn't conflict – there would seem to be a lack of understanding/sympathy/flexibility at senior management/director level – for example being pulled between childcare needs and the corporate expectation – this is from wishing to have more flexibility or not being able to attend an important meeting due a childcare issue
Another example would be secretarial and administration roles (including filing, reception) these roles are not the highest paid and on the whole are carried out by women
- What initiatives do you think could be adopted in order to reduce a gender pay gap?
Technology such as office 365 offers greater flexibility, with staff being able to work from any location
IOD - to promote more about female directors – the new Chair of IOD is a lady and so this would be a good time to run an initiative
- What barriers do you think women face in relation to promotion and progression in the workplace?
Lack of flexibility from current senior managers, who are male or even woman who are not married and have no children
Women who are pure career driven and don't have a family do not have barriers to succeed – it is when their loyalties/values/maternal instinct are challenged that the picture changes
For example – an important meeting is about to take place with a very important client, its critical to a deal – however the female director gets a call to say her child is ill and needs to be collected – she can try and organise someone else, but instinct often says (dependant on the child/sickness/single parent situation) they wish to be there – the men go into the meeting knowing that if their child was ill or its sports day etc – they have the mother of the child to pick this up
- Is there any evidence to suggest that women returning to work after having children are less likely to be successful applicants?
Yes – due to the fact many look for flexibility – part-time – reduced or condensed hours (childcare costs have a massive part to play in this) – they very often look for roles that don't carry too much responsibility so that they can avoid the conflict It is worth saying that these thoughts are based on our experience with financial services – Jersey's Finance Centre is very front end focused – with most back office roles being automated or out sourced. This means that the availability of part-time roles is limited and if they are available they are 20hours to the more likely hours of 25-30 hours. So any candidate looking for less or perhaps one or two days – part-time term time – this is almost impossible – a lot of ladies look to education roles
These are just initial thoughts – if you wanted to meet with a collective of the agencies, I would be happy to facilitate this
Best wishes Tina
Tina Palmer MIRP Assoc CIPD Director