Gender pay gap crisis as men get higher bonuses
MEN EARNED bonuses twice as large as their female peers last year amid a widening chasm in the gender pay gap, a survey out today finds.
Male managers were paid an average bonus of £6,442 last year versus £3,029 for women, figures from the Chartered Management Institute show.
At directorship level the pay gap is even starker, with male directors earning an average bonus of £63,700 versus £36,270 for female directors last year.
“Despite genuine efforts to get more women onto boards, it’s disappointing to find that not only has progress stalled, but women are also losing ground at senior levels,” CMI chief executive Ann Francke said.
The survey, which polled 43,000 UK workers, also found men were more likely than women to get a bonus at management level – 42 per cent of female directors took home a bonus versus 52 per cent of male directors – and earn close to £142,000 more in performance pay over a lifetime.
And the pay gap between men and women could become even larger in future, a second survey hinted yesterday, as City firms move to dial up fixed salaries in the face of European regulation.
Almost two-thirds of British financial services firms have hiked salaries to compensate staff affected by the imminent EU bonus cap, according to the research. Companies have sweetened salaries by an average of 20 per cent, while six in ten firms have increased other benefits for workers, to try and avoid a staff exodus to Asia and the Americas when the cap takes effect in January.
The poll of 100 top executives, conducted by recruitment group Robert Half, found that one in five financial services companies have increased salaries by more than 30 per cent.