Is Pay Transparency the New Standard? | Fast Five Shorts

UK supermarket chain Co Op has collaborated with women in hospitality, travel and leisure.

The yhtl, that's the acronym and Diversity in Retail dir to unveil a new gender pay gap toolkit.

According to the Retail Gazette, the toolkit aims to close the gender gap by helping organizations pursue, quote, meaningful change and is designed to prepare companies for a strengthened gender pay gap action requirements coming into effect from 2027 in the UK.

It provides guidances to businesses on how to identify key drivers of gender pay gaps, develop action plans and to improve recruitment and progression opportunities.

The toolkit brings together practical insights into areas such as menopause, menstrual health, inclusive hiring, mentoring, sponsorship and flexible working.

Tia Kolani MBE, founder and chair of the yhl, said the published quote said quote, publishing gender pay gap data is only the first step.

The requirement to publish in action plan rightly shifts the focus from transparency alone to meaningful change.

Jen, you're our guest, so of course you're going to get the A and M put you on the spot question of the week.

And here it is.

Please help explain what this toolkit means in practical terms and does it get a head nodded, a golf clap or a standing ovation from you?

Okay, yeah.

So in the UK it's required by law to publish your gender pay gap data, which is different than here in the United States.

So that's one thing that I think is important to point out, like the data itself is not new or different or uncommon to see when it comes to the toolkit, what is it practically?

Well, you shared that it offers insights into areas like menopause, menstrual health, inclusive hiring.

I think what it really comes down to is it's offering guidance on how to use the data because organizations are already required to report that data.

But how do you use that data to move yourself from where you are today to where you'd like to go?

So that might be action planning frameworks, that might be templates.

It can be a lot of leadership development.

Right.

So what does change management look like with your executive team if you really want to close that gap?

How do you hire differently?

How do you motivate team members in different ways to make sure that you're closing that pay gap and you're promoting equally in the different genders when it comes to their choice to share this publicly and not just share the data, but actually share the toolkit?

It gets a minimum of a golf clap, but I think I'm going to go standing ovation on my side.

Why?

Because here's the deal.

If they're sharing that publicly, they have a real motivation for change.

They're not looking to just fix the gap in their own company, but they're saying, hey, as an industry, as a country, right, like, how do we close this gap?

And the only way to do that is to share best practices, share playbooks in the form of things like this toolkit.

So I think of it similarly to during COVID right, We saw retailers reaching across the aisle, if you will, where typically things would be tight lipped and sharing, hey, how are you managing this?

How are you getting through this?

How are we going to make it from point A to point B?

So I think this is pretty incredible because it shows that they really want to change it for the industry at large rather than simply how do we check the box internally in our organization.

I 100% agree with you.

I think it's something that should be lauded.

I mean, I think back to my time as an executive at Target, being charged with making decisions in this arena and the more information that I can have, the better, the more information the industry can have, the better.

And it just helps put my feet to the fire in terms of eating what I cook, in terms of trying to promote whatever is required of me as a retail executive for the benefits of the organization and everyone that works there.

So, yeah, I 100% agree with you.

And what do you think here?

Yeah, I mean, I, Jen, I really like the COVID call out because when I was thinking about this, I was taken back to like when early sustainability goals for companies were a thing where they were giving their plans for 2025 or even with some of the DEI initiatives that companies were trying to share with each other.

But most importantly, I think it's the suppliers who will benefit for those that are selling into co op.

Because my guess is that if this is truly something that co op is going to stand behind, they're going to start requiring some of these things of their suppliers and putting a toolkit front of them that they can access.

Right now to say this is how we're closing the, the gender pay gap.

To your earlier point, Jen, this is how we're thinking about hiring and bringing the right people on board.

Because I wouldn't be surprised if we see down the road this becoming a requirement or sharing some of the, these, these, this data of how their companies are working towards that goal becomes a requirement for selling into co op so that they can maintain this mission of, of really eliminating this gender pay gap.

So that to me is another reason why this is helpful to be able to say, hey, are you thinking about selling in co op stores?

Are you already a provider in co op stores?

These are what you need to be thinking about.

And here's the step by step way for you to do that.

Whether you're a small niche, you know, mom and pop brand coming into co op for the first time, or you know, your craft Heinz and you're, you've been selling in for, for decades.

I think that's the other part of this that I find really interesting and a good way or a good reason for them to be promoting this publicly.