PM May calls all UK firms to publish their gender pay gap data

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May called Friday on companies to publish details of their gender pay gap, renewing her efforts to improve workplace equality.

The government has already introduced a legal requirement for all employers with more than 250 workers to publish their gender pay and bonus data by April 2018, but the prime minister said smaller firms should do the same.

She also said all jobs should be advertised as flexible — allowing people to adjust their hours, or work from home — unless there were good business reasons not to. According to the Office of National Statistics, the U.K. gender pay gap rose to 18.4 percent in 2017 from 18.2 percent in 2016.

“The gender pay gap isn’t going to close on its own,” May said in an emailed statement. “We need to see a real step-change in the number of companies publishing their gender pay data and offering progression and flexibility for all employees.”

Source: Bloomberg