CMI response to Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting article

In response to the article in The Guardian on ethnicity pay gap reporting, Daisy Hooper, Head of Policy at the CMI, said:

We support the CBI, TUC and Equality and Human Rights Commission in calling for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting. We know that diverse ethnic representation is low in management and leadership positions and the first step in addressing these disparities is improving the quality of data to drive transparency and change. CMI's research shows that four out of five (80%) of managers agreed that large organisations should be required to report their organisation's ethnicity pay gap.

But this by itself will not remove racial and ethnic disparities. Organisations covered by pay gap reporting should also be required to publish annual action plans showing how they are going to tackle workplace inequalities. This is needed as our CMI Race research has shown a clear 'action gap' between the positive rhetoric and actions of managers and leaders who are instrumental in the success or failure of efforts to create balance.

CMI made clear the importance of this progressive policy four years ago and responded to the Government's consultation on its introduction more than two years ago. "In due course" is simply not good enough. Companies large and small are rightly taking the initiative themselves, but now it's time for the much-needed legal framework. We know from gender pay gap reporting that a voluntary approach just doesn't cut it.