Grapevine: Employers urged to look at board room diversity before new rules

While more than 50% of Irish businesses report that the gender pay gap is an issue for their organisation, that still leaves almost 50% not seeing this as an issue. While 41% of organisations are actively planning steps to improve gender pay equality over the next two years, with a further 35% of companies unsure if they will be taking active steps.

According to Eurostat, the gender pay gap in Ireland was found to be 13.9% compared with an EU 28 figure of 16.7% in 2014. Although Ireland appears somewhat ahead of the EU average, the reported gender pay gap is still significant.

“I was surprised by the near half of employers who don’t see this as a major issue for their organisations,” remarked Patrick Robertson, PRC’s managing director. “Despite the statistics showing that Ireland is performing better than the EU average on this issue, my own experience in the Irish market is that there doesn’t tend to be great diversity at senior level.

“When you go in to meet with executives in many companies, in many cases you are meeting with a team of men. There might be a female HR director. A lot of businesses out there really need to wake up to this issue. A lot of businesses are distracted by Brexit right now and they would seem to be overlooking this issue.”

The Government’s National Strategy for Women and Girls includes a range of measures to try to address gender pay issues in the coming years.

In June 2018, the Irish Government published the general scheme of the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill currently going through the Dáil. The Bill provides that companies will, in due course, have to publish key information on gender pay within their organisation.

It is planned that this will start with companies of more than 250 employees, moving down to companies of 50+ employees on a phased basis. Transparency and reporting will, therefore, be introduced in Ireland in the near future. Reporting is already in place in the UK for organisations with over 250 employees.

I’m not sure exactly when companies in Ireland will be obliged to report on their gender pay gaps, but they should definitely be asking themselves these questions now before having their arms twisted on it,” said Mr Robertson.

“A lot of companies like to talk of their ‘strong employment brand’ when seeking to attract and retain talent. How they perform on this subject will be a key issue for most companies. Surely it is better to look at it yourself now rather than being forced into it later.”

The PRC survey has particular relevance for businesses in the south. Of the 100 companies participating in the survey, 65% have employees in the Republic of Ireland only, 24% have employees located both North and South of the border and 11% have employees located in Northern Ireland only.

Patrick Robertson advises businesses to review the adverts they have placed to fill vacancies. Do these adverts mention work flexibility?

Do the companies actively promote diversity in the workplace? Outside of the impending regulations, do they see the importance of these issues in the way that many people perceive their company?

Mr Robertson said: “The gender pay gap can arise for a range of reasons, including employers offering limited flexibility and part-time working and failing to attract a mix of candidates through progressive recruitment practices.

“Although there is no overnight fix to this issue, it is important for business leaders to first recognise and identify the issue and then start planning active steps to address it. The first stage in this process is to conduct internal analysis to assess how significant the gap is, and then plan out active steps to help remove it. It is clear that a number of Irish businesses are already starting this process, while others are waiting for legislation to go through before starting.”

PRC advises on appropriate reward strategies to support business plan goals. It also helps companies design performance-based incentives that motivate employees. PRC also aims to tailor their reward solutions to each client’s commercial strategy and unique business environment.

In terms of looking at the issue of gender and pay, the first step for many companies will be to come around to the starting position that there is an issue to address.

“Although it is reassuring to see that many Irish businesses are now planning steps to start identifying and addressing this issue, it is surprising that almost half of Irish organisations do not report it as an issue at this stage,” said Mr Robertson.

“You only have to look at the makeup of the boards and management teams of many organisations around Ireland to notice gender inequality. In addition, the pay levels of female employees in management and executive teams often appear to lag male employees in the same teams.”

Grapevine business movers

Gary Hammond has been newly-appointed as head of digital insights and client success with Monsoon Consulting — the e-commerce provider with offices in Dublin, London and Kiev. He will oversee implementation of a range of new professional services. He was formerly MD and founder of Iterate, the UX design and development agency which led to become an industry leader, working with some of the best known and most recognisable brands and organisations in Ireland.

At Monsoon, he will work closely with and advise clients on competitive opportunities to allow them to thrive digitally, leading to a significant return on investment.

Matt Elliott has been appointed as chief people officer with Bank of Ireland. He joins from Virgin Money where he was group people director; he will report directly to CEO Francesca McDonagh and will be a member of the bank’s group executive committee. With Virgin Money, he helped introduce the UK Senior Managers Regime (SMR) and worked closely with the board to implement a new variable remuneration scheme for all employees.

An advocate for inclusion and diversity, he has appeared as a leading ally in this year’s Financial Times lists for gender (HERoes), ethnicity (EMpower) and LGBT+ (OUTstanding), the only person to appear in all three lists.

Denise Manton has been appointed as business development and commercialisation manager with Lero, the SFI-backed Irish Software Research Centre, based in University of Limerick. She replaces Joe Gibbs, who has been named as GM with Lero. Denise was formerly technology gateway manager of TSSG, an ICT research centre.

She has also held senior roles in the tech and life science sectors. She has also worked as an engineer and technical lead on large scale control system and automation projects for multinationals such as Janssen Pharmaceuticals and MSD. Denise holds a BSc in Computer Applications from CIT an MSc in Technology Management from UCC.

Sean Moran has been named as president of the Hardware Association Ireland, the body for over 370 hardware and DIY retailers, builders merchants, and manufacturers and distributors across Ireland. He has served on the board for four years and as treasurer for two years. He is CEO and majority shareholder of the Home Project Centre Group, which has 14 trading units around the country, employs 250 people and operates trading brands including TJ O’Mahonys, C+D Providers, PH Ross, Commons Hardware and McCarthys Hardware.

He has held senior roles, including with Stone Developments, part of the Sisk group. A qualified accountant, he was also MD of the McMahon Group.

Graham Murphy has been appointed as head of data with Three Ireland. This new role will see Graham lead Three’s centralised data function which will use data to provide meaningful business insights and inform business decision making. He joins Three from Deutsche Bank, where he was head of data protection advisory for the past four years. Prior to that, he held the position of data analytics and governance lead with Deloitte for two years.

He has also worked with Bank of Ireland for more than 10 years in roles including data management consultant and manager of fraud and AML intelligence. He holds a BSc in Computer Science, Portobello College.

Pauline Houlihan has been named as a partner with executive search firm Amrop in Ireland. She joins from professional services firm RGP, where she spent 12 years as talent management director, acquiring and deploying senior executive project consultants across Ireland and Europe. She has also worked with eircom in a number of finance and project management roles. She trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand, specialising in the large scale manufacturing audit area.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Studies degree from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Accounting from University College Dublin.