There has been a rising awareness of sexual equality in the communications industry. The findings of a survey commissioned by Golin and undertaken by Toluna indicate that 84% of 1,000 people in professional industries believe reporting on the gender pay gap will be damaging to the reputation. With females standing up for high incentives after returning from maternity leave, this problem is a sensitive issue that needs to be addressed.

Three-quarters of respondents think organisations that don’t promote equal pay will lose employees as a result. And, 76.5% said those organisations should be ‘named and shamed’ for their gender pay gaps. Even over one-third of respondents said gender pay gap is potentially more toxic than corporate tax avoidance. Female respondents in particular had the greatest concern about the issue, with 4 in 10 saying they would consider leaving a company with a poor gender pay gap. These facts denote that equal payis a serious problem which needs a remedy.

Thus, the UK Government passed regulation demanding gender pay gap reporting by April 2018. MD of Golin, Bibi Hilton, says, “Organisations shouldn’t hide from this issue, or put it off hoping to get lost in the crowds reporting ahead of the April deadline. They should establish what their gap is as soon as possible and ensure they know how and why it has come about. Armed with that information they can plan to put it right and communicated what they are doing, to the public, employees and media. Even if they are starting from a bad place at least they will have something positive to talk about and will be able to show progress.”