NEW DELHI, July 19: Welcoming UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to force companies to disclose pay gap between female and male staff, Indian HR experts say such a move here will result in earning parity between the two genders.
As India has already taken steps toward mandating a woman on the board, an initiative like disclosing pay gap is a good idea, say experts.
Last week, David Cameron has announced plans to force large companies to publish the difference in earnings between male and female staff in a bid to ensure equal pay.
“Given that India has taken the step towards mandating a woman on the board, this might not be far behind. However I don’t think we should wait for legislation to drive this,” Genpact SVP Human Resources Piyush Mehta said.
In India, most listed and reputed organisations have an equal opportunity policy, which also takes into consideration fair pay for the job done. But much needs to be assessed before concluding where the country stands, experts added.
According to a study released by research firm Catalyst there are considerable gender pay gaps within the tech sector, as also across other industry sectors.
Catalyst’s research on the tech sector said women and men start out as equals with equal pay and responsibility. But pay gap emerges over time and by the time they are about 12 years into their careers women lag behind to a tune of Rs 3.8 lakh.
“While Indian corporates have done a lot about improving diversity ratios in their respective organisations, not much has been researched on earning parity in the Indian scenario in various industries,” Tata Steel Chief Diversity Officer Atrayee S Sanyal said, adding that “this will need focus and gather a momentum once the representation of women become more common place especially in leadership roles”.
In order to boost gender gap many companies are taking various measures and are even offering premium rates to staffing companies who support this initiative.
“Many firms like IBM, Morgan Stanley, HCL, Tech Mahindra pay premium rates to vendors to hire female employees. Sapient Technologies is giving higher referral bonuses to employees who refer a potential woman candidate,” said Alka Dhingra Services Assistant General Manager of staffing firm TeamLease.
Joseph Devasia India Managing Director with executive recruitment firm Antal International said gender pay gap could be a scenario at the junior level, however, there is no such bias at the mid-senior level. (PTI)
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