Friday, May 29, 2020

UK Lessons on Bridging the Gender Pay Gap

UK Lessons on Bridging the Gender Pay Gap There have been countless studies, media reports and even employment tribunals challenging the pay difference between men and women doing the same jobs and  its a worldwide problem. The Nordic countries have the smallest global gender gap index, but African and Middle Eastern countries, trail a long way behind them. Rwanda is the one exception as it boasts the sixth smallest gender gap, sitting just below Ireland. Now something is being done about it forcing companies to be transparent about what they pay their employees. From April 2017 new gender pay reporting regulations come into force in the UK, joining other countries in the world. President Barack Obama tried to introduce something similar in America during his time in office but the nearest thing that he got to introducing is  the Employer Information Report EEO-1, which is a tool to collect data from employers starting in March 2018. The Executive Order from President Obama goes back to 2014 and stipulates that every year, most federal contractors and other private employers (with at least 100 employees) will tally and report summary pay data for their employees by sex, race, and ethnicity. But, companies in America do not have to disclose the gender pay gap. The reporting outlined by the EEO-1 form above is required and summary pay data is collected and analyzed across many categories by the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey, both of which are sponsored by the Census Bureau. Kate Nielson, State Policy Analyst at American Association of University Women, says the American regulations dont go far enough in bridging the gender pay gap. I applaud the UK for bringing more transparency to the issue of the gender pay gap. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Many companies want to do the right thing, they are just unaware that there is a problem, so shining a light on the issue and revealing the data is an excellent way to make progress toward women bringing home a fair paycheck that they deserve. So what are the new gender pay gap reporting regulations in the UK and are you ready for it? According to a survey carried out by XpertHR  many of you are not prepared for it at all. What do you need to know: The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017  is a new law which affects all private and voluntary sector companies with 250 employers or more. It requires them to publish statutory calculations every year showing how large the pay gap is between their male and female employees. What do you need to do to comply with the new law? Check out the guidelines about who is classed as an employee because their specific rules dont just assume Gather your information first and take plenty of time working them out this will help you in the long run Prove that your calculations are correct by providing a written statement confirming it by a director or chief executive or another senior person. If your company does have a gender pay gap explain why  and show who you aim to close it. Do the calculations for 6 specific categories there are six calculations to carry out, and the results must be published on the employers website and a government website within 12 months. Working  out the pay calculations for the 6 categories Your mean gender pay   this is the difference between the mean hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees. Your median gender pay this is the difference between the median the mean hourly rate of pay of male full-pay relevant employees and that of female full-pay relevant employees. Your mean gender bonus pay this is the difference between the mean bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that of female relevant employees. Your median gender bonus pay   this is the difference between the median bonus pay paid to male relevant employees and that of female relevant employees. Your proportion of men and women getting a bonus payment   this is the proportions of male and female relevant employees paid bonus pay. Your proportion of men and women in each quartile band   this is the proportions of male and female relevant employees in the lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper quartile pay band. What happens with this information? This has to be published. Try and do it on your own website or intranet as soon as possible so its accessible to everyone in the company but eventually it will have to be published on a designated UK government website details of which will be available nearer to April 2017. You can get more information on what to do and how to do it on the ACAS website. What are the penalties for not doing it? Well there are no penalties as such but remember it is the law.  If you dont comply then it would amount to an unlawful act falling within the existing enforcement powers of the Equality and Human Rights  Commission which are set out in the Equality Act 2006. As well as it being an unlawful act, by not complying you risk harming your companys good name and reputation. You are also less likely to be considered as an employer to potential candidates who will happily go to rival firms who have been open about its gender pay and will have complied with the regulations. Mary Hope, from Career Success, says: Transparency is a good thing for candidates and employees. Where there is a clear equality of pay and esteem it will make organisations attractive to discerning employees. But often the differences might be masking some subtle and legitimate reasoning which statistics can hide. Clever organisations will obfuscate the picture. It will very probably lead to wage inflation as organisations outbid each other in the competition for talent. So whilst publicly ‘outing’ firms who have gender pay gaps might appear a way forward.. it may also be subject to the law of unintended consequences.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Know your strengths and find the fit

Know your strengths and find the fit Strengths-based approaches to recruitment and selection continue to grow and develop. Weve talked about strengths in  previous posts and see no sign of this interest waning for readers or recruiters.  A recent Guardian article assessed  employers motivations for using strengths-based questions in order to elicit authentic responses from candidates at interview. So, if you are applying for jobs it would  be a good idea to know what your strengths are so  you can respond effectively as well as authentically to strengths-based questions  during an  interview. Finding the right path In all honesty, most of us spend more time planning holidays than planning our career. We are generally better at focusing on our skills and demonstrating these through competency-based questions using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) framework to describe how we can transfer our current skills into new situations.  Many of us would just rather get on with the business of completing applications and trying to secure a job than taking time to reflect on what we really want. It’s a bit like driving. You may be able to drive perfectly well. However, when you get into a car it’s not enough to simply drive. You need to have a clear sense of where you are heading in order to reach your destination. Finding what makes you tick In order to answer those questions which seek to test our motivation and authenticity effectively, we need to do more soul-searching. ‘Why do you want the job?’ ‘What are your personal values?’ ‘How would friends describe you?’ ‘What are your three best qualities?’ ‘What do you love to learn?’ These can be tricky questions to answer well unless you know yourself and have taken time to consider these important questions. Flaky answers here can undermine any diligent preparation you may have done in order to answer competency-based questions. Try these for size: CAPP (the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology)  have just launched a new website called Jobmi.  Jobmi provides you with the opportunity to complete a series of free self- assessments including a strengths questionnaire which can help you to identify your top strengths and to understand what precisely you have to offer recruiters. Jobmi is an innovative employability and recruitment platform aimed at students, graduates and school leavers. Read more about Jobmi on CAPP’s recent blog post. Another fun and free resource to try is the  Buzz Test, which you can find on icould’s website.  Based on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, it explores your personality in terms of your preferences and describes individuals in terms of their similarity to an animal type. It might seem a bit flippant, If youre a Warwick student then you can develop your self-awareness and self-knowledge through completing the   Profiling For Success questionnaires. The Values-Based Indicator of Motivation  is useful when exploring job sectors and work environments. By taking the results of your completed questionnaires and assessments and looking at all of these together, you can start to build a comprehensive picture not only of your skills and experiences but also, more importantly of your strengths, personal qualities, values and motivations. Finding the fit By developing an understanding of who you are and what matters to you, it becomes far easier to approach the whole business of career decision making. Once you are clear what’s important to you, your applications will become more compelling to recruiters. You will be able to answer the ‘why’ questions (strengths and motivations) as well as the ‘what’ and ‘how’ (competency) questions with genuine conviction. You may even find that you start to enjoy job interviews as you feel more able to be yourself. The decisions we make, however we may try to convince ourselves otherwise, are invariably emotional rather than rational. Personal factors contribute to career decision making. These may include factors such as where you want to live, whether you want to live with or near a partner, family or friends? How important is work/life balance? By making authentic choices based on the things that matter to us personally, we are more likely to succeed at interview as well as to fin d opportunities that are a better fit.

Friday, May 22, 2020

A Womans Guide to Growing a Business

A Woman’s Guide to Growing a Business Women have made a massive stride forward for themselves in the last decade or so. While equality in the workplace is still an issue in todays world, the problems are being addressed and growing smaller over time. The littlest of progress is still progress in the right direction. In other news, between the years 1997-2006, women owned businesses rose by 42%. That’s huge for women. That means that the opportunities for women to own businesses and excel in the workplace are bigger than they’ve ever been and it’s time to capitalize on it. The more women that take the leap forward into growing a business, the faster equality in the workplace will grow. Here are some tips for growing a business. Define Your Role Number one in growing a business as a woman is to define your role. Are you going to merely be a woman who is in business or will you be a woman owned business? The two differ in the way that a woman in business may have men working for her somewhere along the line. Also, the point of the business is not necessarily all about promoting the fact that you’re all about women empowerment . A woman owned business means everything you do in your business has the “woman power” agenda. Being a woman owned business will give you benefits, as well as hoops to jump through. Have an Online Presence Now that you’ve chosen what your role as a business is, the next step is to make sure you establish an online presence. Gone are the days where you can just open up a shop in town and call it good. Your success as a business all depends on your online marketing strategy. If you want to grow as a business, your market is global. It’s social media, it’s building awareness, it’s about having a product and getting it out there. Without an online presence, you are not relevant and your business will more than likely fizzle out very fast. Do Your Research Those who work hard and educate themselves have a better chance at finding success. A business requires constant learning about the market in which you’re selling. If you don’t master the market, it will master you, so do yourself a favor and study up. Get all the needed certifications as a woman owned business, know the requirements, hire advisors if you are lost. Work hard and never think you have arrived. Ultimately, the one who stays on top, is the one who is willing to jump from rooftop to rooftop. It’s great that women have come so far, but just because women are making strides doesn’t mean the work is done. Keep pushing. Get educated. Find your success. Image Source; Image Source

Monday, May 18, 2020

Beauty Industry Careers That Pay Well in Salary And Satisfaction

Beauty Industry Careers That Pay Well in Salary And Satisfaction The beauty industry is such a large and expansive field. It is a really important one because everyone desires to look good. There are so many careers to choose from if you’re looking to get into the industry. Some are obvious examples like hair stylists to beauty therapists to ones you wouldn’t think of like tattoo artists. Looking good is a multi-billion dollar industry with various sectors and high paying jobs that are well respected and satisfying. Basics of Beauty Care Industry The industry has traditionally been thought of just for women, but has lately become a trend for men as well. Beauty care encompasses different parts of the body, mostly having to do with hair, skin and other outer layers of the body. It is both an industry for both men and women to help take care of them and look great. If you want to start a business in the industry or profession then there are a vast amount of areas for you to look into. Some of the basic areas include hair. There are a variety of specialists dealing in just hair, from barbers to hairstylists and specialists that deal with coloring in order to look different and great. Cosmetically there is so much that can be done for you. Entire magazines are devoted to looking your best and eating healthy. As science progresses so do the therapies and methods for looking young and beautiful. A popular trend for a time has been Botox.   These therapies are created and applied through specialists that have got their own Botox training. Career Paths to Take Having your hair done and changed with different styles is something that everyone partakes in from one extreme to the next. In our society looks play an important part in how you present yourself. Looking groomed helps in all areas of business and social areas. Most people will opt for some kind of hairdresser to showcase how they’re going to look. Hairdressers need to be up on the latest style trend and how to give that to their clientele to keep them happy and coming back for more routine visits.  The different types of services include weaving, highlights, hair coloring, extensions, cutting, shampooing and a whole other slew of treatments a hairdresser can specialize in. It’s a great way to either start up your own business with small amount of capital.  Or, with only skill,   start working for an established place to learn the ropes. Another important outside area is nail grooming. Some of the biggest areas are through pedicures and manicures. Nail care is important as it prevents possible problems throughout your nails and all of these skills can be acquired through beauty school. Different Careers A dermatologist is a doctor who is a specialist in caring for the skin and halting infectious diseases or problems that can arise to cause cancer in the future. The skin is an organ and covers the entirety of the body. The quality of your skincare health is indicative of your entire health at large. It is a protective force against outside agents of disease and injury. Dermatology patients range from all different age groups. The majority of dermatology conditions worked on some mostly from 20 different conditions out of a mass of 3,000 total. Going to school to essentially become a skin doctor is a great career that can be beneficial in all areas. Many guys will also become barbers. The barbing salon business is one of the fastest growing areas of small business right now. The only thing you’ll need is skill and an aptitude for cutting men’s hair, with a rising group of stylish hairstyles and facial hairstyles. External Sectors of Beauty Cosmetic retailers are an essential part of supplying beauty salons and barbershops. There are so many different kinds of products that can be offered that make up an entire spectrum of personal hygiene products. These cosmetics are essential towards a healthy body and for that matter a good body image. Some things you might not think of as part of the industry are. One example is becoming a tattoo artist. Tattoo designing is a great career for those with an artistic side and a knack for ink. There are so many areas that include, makeup artists, cosmetic surgery, anti-aging careers and even more. People who care about their appearance should think about getting into the beauty industry to make an impact and make some money. Bio Ellis Armstrong is a careers consultant working with young people as well as Mothers looking to re-enter work after a career break to raise kids. Image credits: Main   Makeup

Friday, May 15, 2020

Women make better bosses than men according to Gallup

Women make better bosses than men according to Gallup A study has revealed that women make better bosses to employees than men do. Yup, you better believe it. Not only are women taking leadership positions in their stride, theyre absolutely smashing it. Thats despite everything youve heard about maternity leave and yes, that nasty pay gap. According to a 2015 report, which was based on over 40 years of research, women are more likely to focus on building employee engagement in their workplace than men, which leads to them being better bosses. More than 27 million workers were interviewed over the course of time it took to gather this research. Of those workers who were polled, the survey found they were more likely agree with the following statements if their managers were women: “There is someone at work who encourages my development” “In the last six months, someone has talked to me about my progress” “In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work” Additionally, female managers eclipsed their male counterparts in numerous other areas. These included  setting basic expectations for their employees, building relationships with their subordinates, encouraging a positive team environment and providing employees with opportunities to develop within their careers. So, no more excuses for poor representation I know all about the benefits of being managed by women, working under two of the best any company has to offer here at Debut. But despite this well-documented evidence proving it, the vast majority of people will not get the experience due women being badly represented in management positions. Women made up just over a third of managers in the UK last year and there are genuinely more men called John than women of any name at the head of FTSE100 companies. Yet, there is more call for engagement in the workplace than ever before. According to Gallup, 87% of employees worldwide report feeling disengaged at work. And lets not forgot, its young people and millennials that suffer the most from disengagement from their jobs. Its time to stop thinking of this as a coincidence any more. Its been said time and again, that diversity and gender parity has clear economic benefits. Companies with highly engaged workers outperform their competitors by 147 per cent in earnings per share. So the message to CEOs from this report is clear. If you want your company to do well, promote more women.

Monday, May 11, 2020

The Essential Skills You Need When Going It Alone

The Essential Skills You Need When Going It Alone When you first start to think about leaving work behind and doing something for yourself, it can be scary. But if it’s something that you really want to do, you absolutely have to make it work. Sure, there are mistakes that you could make, but where you can. you should look to avoid them. And this is why it’s helpful to have the right skills. Because when you’re skilled in all of the right areas, you’ll be in the best position to find success. And you may still make mistakes and stumble and find things difficult at times, but these skills are going to help you out. So to make sure that you’re ready to make this work, here are the five areas to focus on. Time Management One of the best things that you can learn to master for yourself is time management. If you want to be able to really get your business off of the ground, you need to manage your time well. You will find that this business resource can help you with that. Because it’s tough. Often, you’ll get started and you’ll think that you have more freedom that you can do what you want when you want because you work for yourself. But you need to be organized and manage your time well so that you’re the most productive. Financial Skills It’s also super helpful to be able to manage money and numbers well. You don’t have to be a huge financial whizz, but it is going to help you to grow your business if you are financially aware of it. If you can see how to save money and to push your profits, you will want to really hone in on this. And you can learn this as you go, because when you’re investing in this, you will find that you want to learn more about money. Personal Confidence But you do also need to believe in yourself. You do not want to hold yourself or your business back because of doubt and fear. Instead, you need to get yourself into a position of feeling confident in your abilities and what you can achieve. The more you back yourself, the easier this journey will be. Collaboration Skills And you absolutely have to be able to work with others. Because your business will flourish when you have the right experts and companies around you. This could be a great graphic designer or this law firm or a super-productive assistant. When you surround yourself with these people and you learn how to collaborate with them, it will help you to grow. Creative Ideas And then the final skill that you need to work on is innovation. Because when you have your own business or you’re starting out as an entrepreneur, you will want to make sure that you’re creative. You will need to come up with cool marketing ideas, you’ll want to have fun with your content, you’ll want to make sure that you’re representing yourself and your business in the best possible ways. So it’s important for you to embrace and really grow your creativity too.

Friday, May 8, 2020

What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Resume Writing Service

What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Resume Writing ServiceIf you are looking for a resume writing service that will help you create an amazing cover letter for you, then you need to know a few things before you get started. You may be surprised to find out that there are a lot of things that you need to take into consideration when you hire a company to do this for you.The first thing that you need to do is decide whether or not you are going to hire a professional to do the job for you. There are plenty of people who use a resume writing service. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of people who are more than happy to just hand their resume over to anyone and have them take care of the task for them. This is a bad idea because if they're a good professional, they will want to get paid for their time.If you do decide to use the services of a professional, make sure that they know all about resumes. If they don't know how to write one, you may be throwing away a lot of money that yo u could have gotten for free.Atlanta resume writing service companies that are great for your job hunt. These companies understand that not everyone has the time to learn the ins and outs of preparing a successful resume. They make it easy for you to get a high quality letter in a short amount of time.It's not hard to find a good service. With the internet, you can find one online or even one right in your own town.You want to make sure that the one you choose has credentials to back up their work. Ask around and see what other people say about the company. Just remember that your decision should always be based on your own needs.For example, if you are doing the job for yourself, you may want to have a personal touch to it. You want to make sure that the service you get uses the most professional sounding letters that will stand out from the rest.Make sure that the company offers a free trial so that you can see what they can do for you. You may find that they can produce a quality letter for you very quickly. If they don't, you can always cancel before you pay for anything.