Nicola: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to women at the top of telecoms and tech. I am your host. I am Nicola Buckley, and I, I am Cola, SCOR, co I will start getting that right soon. I’m having to change my name and everything. So I recently married I’m Cola, SCOR, co, still getting used to the name and the spelling’s in the show.

Notes is not the easiest. Yes. Nicholas score co so helping telecoms and tech organizations to recruit, retain and develop women at. And future talent to close the gender pay gap and create more inclusive cultures and organizations. So welcome to the podcast today. I’m really excited that you are here today.

I’m gonna be talking about something that I think is really, really important to tech and telecom’s organization. So these are outlining saying I’m gonna be outlining four steps [00:01:00] to developing a gender pay gap action plan. So all organizations that are of a certain size they need to each year is part of their annual report.

They need to put together and share a gender pay gap report. So this is something that is becoming more and more of a focus. Um, and actually it’s part of your annual report to have a gender pay gap report that shows some really tangible steps to show a commitment. And an investment to closing the gender pay gap.

That’s obviously gonna impact on your share price. It’s gonna impact on how you are viewed by your shareholders and also for your consumers. It’s becoming more and more important to become. Organization with a social conscience to be fair, um, to have that parity. So just having in place a gender pay gap action plan becomes rather than an intention of closing the gender pay, um, pay gap rather than [00:02:00] becoming something that is paid lip service to having that gender pay gap action plan makes it really.

It makes it very tangible. It means that you’re taking committed action and there’s clear steps in your organization to close that gender pay gap action plan. And the more that you have the plan, the more that you can just really make sure that as you’re taking steps, that you are monitoring against that plan to see the results, you can see the tangible difference that it’s making.

So it’s incredibly, I powerful, powerful to have them put together a gender pay gap action plan, especially in the world of telecoms and tech, which we know is male dominated. You’re likely to be the only woman in the room. And the more senior you are, the more likely you are to be the only woman in the room.

So an effective gender pay gap action plan will help you. Organization to really truly understand what is going on with your gender pay gap, to know where you are starting from your point a and to know [00:03:00] your point B of where you wanna get to. And it’s a real. Sign to your employees and to your public and your shareholders, that you’ve got a commitment to taking serious steps to tackling that gender pay gap.

And what we’re gonna go through today is based on, um, a great report though, is actually, um, is put together by the government equalities office. So I’m just kind of taking some key points from there and bringing it into the episode today. But if you want more information, that’s a great point to start from and ask, share, uh, share that, um, report in the show notes so that you can go straight to.

So what’s the importance of having a gender pay gap action plan, then what are the steps together though? So if you don’t currently have a gender pay gap report, um, an action plan, what are the steps to get started? So we’re start at the very beginning. So starting with analyzing your data. So this is where you really get a snapshot.

You understand where your key [00:04:00] problems live and your key challenges. So. You can really start to understand and get under the skin of why your organization’s gender pay gap exists. So are there certain types of work and roles that are more male dominated? Are there certain levels where the number of women really drop off?

And what we generally see is almost like a pyramid effect, especially within telecoms and tech, that at the more junior levels companies can be 40, 60, or even 50 50, but as you move up through the organization, the percentage of women really drops off. To where you get to those very top level roles, the CEO, the MD roles, where within the fie 500, less than 5% are women.

So just to really understand. So before you start to put into place action, before you start to take steps and make investments just really understand and kind of diagnose exactly what is driving your gender pay gap, um, and that can vary [00:05:00] greatly. Even within companies within the same sector and same industry, even with other companies that are within the telecoms and tech market, there might be different backgrounds or different context.

That means actually across your organization, there’s different pools that there’s different diagnosis that actually, you know, where you need to start tackling it. So, how can you start this process? Number one is you can set up in place processes and ways of monitoring information to really start to identify and diagnose what’s going on within your organization.

So really look at every stage in an employee life cycle, look from recruitment, look through to exit interviews, to tenure, to link for service to management levels, through to senior management levels, through to exec levels and really. Look at the quantitative data of the numbers. And also look at the qualitative feedback from your employees around what are the barriers they’re facing and therefore, [00:06:00] what are the actions that you should be taking to support them across these different stages?

So the. What might need to change within your recruitment process to bring more women into the organization, what might need to happen within policies and procedures to support more women, to stay with the organization and increase that length of tenure. So things like looking at what sort of maternity.

Return policy. Do you have in place? What support do you have for maternity, um, returners? Uh, what support do you have for women that are going through menopause and what’s available there and what’s the impact and are women leaving at a certain age with a certain life stage? Second part of that as well is also start to identify evidence from these different actions.

So ensure actions are developed based on this diagnosis that you’ve gone through to address some of those very specific underlying causes. So for example, What sort [00:07:00] of actions to close agenda pay gap can take in. If you go back, you can actually, I’ve got a whole episode on this that you can dig into more deeply, but what are the sort of things that you can look at?

So things that you can look at, you can look at recruitment and policies. Um, processes, you can look at interview questions. You can look at policies around reporting sexual harassment. You can look at policies around, um, reporting discriminatory behavior. You can look at policies and processes around menopause support.

So first of all, go through that process of. Really diagnosing what’s going on in your organization. Look at those different stages of an employee life cycle off the back of that. Think about actions to really address where you might be falling down as an organization. So that’s the first step. So you’re creating, you’re identifying through, um, your data and your, that quantitative, that qualitative data, but off the back of that, you are starting to [00:08:00] think about and identify.

Actions that can help alleviate those, those, um, spots that were it’s more challenging. Number two is consult unengaged. Once you’ve got this framework and you’ve identified some evidence driven actions. It then needs that very senior, um, that buying at a very senior level. So this is for a couple of reasons.

This is so that you can get any budget. Um, And time from different areas of the business to really support this so that you can make this something that is on the, a strategic priority in your organization. And also for the very senior level leadership to be role modeling. And supporting what is a very important part of the strategy with that closing the gender pay gap and HR directors can play a really pivotal role in ensuring that senior leaders understand the meaning of the gender pay gap and the best actions to take.

And highlighting case studies as well from other organizations and sharing [00:09:00] what’s working within telecoms and tech. What initiatives are changing things. What in initiatives are having a really huge impact on future leaders or on current leaders. Or looking outside to other sectors, um, to really understand what, what is impactful at the moment, what is making a real difference to organizations?

So getting that very senior buy. I know for me, when I work with organizations, that senior level leadership is really key to. The impact of a leadership program to the level of participation to the involvement. And what’s taken away from what’s taken away as action from those leadership programs. So when there’s feedback around maybe sexual harassment or discrimination, that those specific scenarios are fed back to that very senior level leadership so that something can be done about it.

And it’s not just behavior that’s allowed to continue. Second part of the consultant engages then involving a wide range of stakeholders. So that could be around employees of different [00:10:00] levels that can be employee representative bodies. So for example, if you have a gender 50 50 group, or if you have a women’s network, um, different levels of management and.

Really have your framework and have your plan, but also get that engagement, get that feeding in, get those ideas, ask people for innovations, ask people for ideas so that what you come back with, that the framework of actual actions to start taking they’re co-created by everyone across the organization.

They’re based on what’s true and real, and what’s gonna work within your organization. And those. Create some informal feedback sessions and some, some surveys to really engage with stakeholders, to make sure that there’s work in groups. So this isn’t just with you. This is with a wider community of people and the more staff include and the more go they’re gonna feel that they’ve co-created this plan.

The more, they wanna kind want to be involved in delivering it as well. And the greater that buy-in is gonna be. So it’s gonna make your gender pay gap plan even more [00:11:00] successful. Number three is then moving on to really revise, assess and embed your action plan. So let your plans evolve. So don’t just make a plan and that’s your framework and be scared to move away from it.

But it’s really important that you, you make that plan into a flexible framework that you are monitoring and evaluating the actions that you’re taking. What’s the impact of changing a policy? What’s the uptake on shared parental leave, for example, is that having an impact? What’s the impact of.

Introducing hybrid, working into a new area. What’s the impact of change in your recruitment process in the wording. So set some specific timebound targets, some smart objectives and appoint someone to really drive the plan forward in a particular area. And be clear, especially with the senior leadership team, what you expect your plans to deliver over time, but then know that it’s important that you can flex and you can change ’em if something else is needed.

If [00:12:00] there’s a scenario that comes up of. Sexual harassment case or clear discrimination or jobs for the boys. What are you gonna do to evolve your plan and, and not just beholding to that original plan and it’s a pass or fail, but knowing that this is a framework that will grow and evolve as the organization does.

Also an important part of this is to really embed your actions in working processes and practice. So ensure that actions to close that gender pay gap become part of your business as usual, they become part of the day to day, the way the business works. Um, they become part of the, the known behaviors.

They become part of the common language. So this will demonstrate that long term strategic commitment to closing the gender pay gap. And consider that existing monitoring view processes that is shared back to a wider group of people across the organization and set that wider context, share that with shareholders, share that with the senior leadership team and really embed the, the actions that [00:13:00] come out of it in the working practices and share stories, share stories to people that have benefited from share parental leave, for example, to encourage the uptake of those more flexible framework.

Number four then is allow enough time. So developing effective action plan is an ongoing iterative process that will evolve over time. It’s not just the one and done. It’s something that takes time to set up and investigate. It takes time to deliver on the actions and then time to look back and reflect.

So time is required to consider and detail the approach. What action you’re gonna take. And then also to refine the content and really deliver on the ideas, but then also be able to look back and review progress and understand what issues are driving the gender pay gap. So allow enough time and have enough support for the gender pay.

Don’t just put this within a. D de and I, but make this something that more people are responsible for that more people feed into that very early [00:14:00] stage. So that they’re part of the co-creation of the plan. So that plan around the analysis, research, drafting, the consultation and feedback, refinement, and sign off.

And then that will be a process. Again, it becomes part of the business as usual that. There’s your budgeting process for the year. There’s also your DEI plan that you’re creating for the year and the process to make sure that that is evolving over time. And it has that very senior level buy-in. So those are the four steps of creating that gender pay gap action plan.

So number one is analyze your data, identify the actions that can have the most impact. It’s part of that. What budget do you need? What resource do you need? Very clear on that. Number two is then consultant engage from the senior leaders to the HR director, that very pivotal role to the staff. Um, the employees, the representative working and working groups.

Get that buy in, get that support, get the ideas in the room, understand more, um, the wider lived experience of different [00:15:00] minorities so that you can really taking, action’s gonna make a difference to people. So you have those stories to share. Number three is revise, assess an embed, your action plan to make it part the business usual.

The policies, make sure there’s that uptake. How do you encourage uptake? How do you get feedback on the experience of those different policies and practices? How do you make the language and the behaviors expected business as usual and how do you make it really easy for someone to report? On anyone that’s stepped outside of those behavior and that language.

And then finally, number four is allow that time, allow that time for it, to really embed in the organization, but also for the whole end to end process to take place. So then us research, drafting, consultation, feedback, refinement, and sign off and make that part of the annual planning process. And that buy-in.

As part of, um, for it to become a strategic priority. So that’s it for today. If this is something that you’re looking for help with within your [00:16:00] organization, I’m creating, developing and delivering a agenda pay gap action plan. That’s part of the work that I do with organizations. So please do drop me a message.

We can book a call, um, discussing more detail. And I would love to know what you think. Are there any steps that you would add into this? Is there anything else that you think you’ve seen working within your organization? Is there more steps that you would add to the, that action plan framework? Yeah. So that’s it for today.

Thank you for listening. If you do have any comments, just drop me a message or my contact details over the show. And I will see you on the next podcast. Thank you. Bye.

If you love what I have to say, and you like to find out more about working with me, easiest way to do that is to book a, get to know you call. So there’s a link to that in the show notes, I can help you through working with your organization to help close the gender pay gap through women’s leadership program.

To help empower your women at the top to be more influential, impactful leaders, and [00:17:00] really own their leadership identity. Or I can create workshops around confidence around emotional intelligence, creating a career strategy or developing your own leadership identity. Or I can work one to one or group coach your senior leaders to help them to overcome a very specific problem, or just again, really own their own leadership identity.

Or I can work with you one to one. I do work with a small number of private clients, and you can work with me either on my shorter focus coaching program, where we pick one specific thing and we just really focus in on it and help you to move past it. Or my deep dive find your five VIP program. Which really gets the root cause of what’s holding you back and also helps you to create a very, very clear idea of what you want for the future.

And within that, your leadership identity, the results that I get from clients are as varied as they are brilliant. I’m incredibly proud of them. So some examples. A client being [00:18:00] promoted twice. Within the six months, they worked with me, another client being invited to join the board. Another client being offered a brand new role that wasn’t available to anyone else with a big promotion and a big pay rise and a client that was pushed out of an organization to then being offered three dream roles that they could choose from.

And finally a client that decided that the corporate world wasn’t for her anymore and helping her to re get really, really clear in what she wanted and sell a new company that she’s absolutely in love with. If you are not quite ready to work me yet, that’s absolutely. Okay. You can download my overwhelm Onfi guide, which is.

Five simple steps to help you clear your head and help you get back to feeling on fire and take that inspired action and really be that leader that, you know, you can be, or you can subscribe to my newsletter, which comes out on a Friday, which has the best bits of the week, and also hints and tips, new steps that have come out and things that I’m reading or watching.

So that’s a great way to keep in touch and a few quotes. My [00:19:00] clients, I can talk about what I do all day. I absolutely love it. One client said. Thank you for transformation, who I am now at home and at work is who I am meant to be. I can feel it. And that difference is just incredible. Thank you for what you do, Nick for another client who just stepped into a new exec director role.

Her quote was, it felt like I was wearing a coat that didn’t fit. It was a coat that was new. That didn’t quite fit me, that I didn’t feel that I was good enough for now. I step proudly stand tall and proud of who I am wearing that coat of leadership. I am confident to speak up. I am the right hand woman of the CEO, and I have that coat that just looks great and I feel it fits and I am just incredibly empowered leader.

So thank you so much. So if you are looking to get some help, just to be that most impactful influential leader or help women in your organization, by closing that gender pay gap. Do Booker get to know you call me all the [00:20:00] details of this or in my show notes. I can’t wait to work with you. Um, I thank you for listening.