NHS Providers has launched a new guide to help healthcare leaders tackle ethnicity pay gaps across the health service, with data outlined as one of the key steps to success.
The resource features three case studies from across the public sector. They include:
The guide
The guide outlines the legal framework of the matter and the risks associated with not addressing the ethnicity pay gap, as well as the responsibility of NHS leaders in this regard.
It also signposts the role boards must play in eliminating the ethnicity pay gap – the resource itself comes one year after NHS England published its first EDI improvement plan, which called on organisations to better understand pay gaps by protected characteristic and implement an improvement plan.
Understanding data is key to narrowing the pay gap, with disaggregated statistics crucial to taking the right approach and identifying root causes.
Listed are also several ways of closing the ethnicity pay gap, ranging from transparency and reporting, bias awareness and diverse leadership, all the way to community and sector engagement as well as inclusive cultures.
One piece of the puzzle
“We know that the legal frameworks surrounding the ethnicity pay gap are shifting, but the issue itself is long-standing,” said NHS Providers’ deputy CEO, Saffron Cordery. “This is why our guide outlining the impact of the ethnicity pay gap and practical strategies to address it is crucial.”
Split into four themes, the resource includes nine questions that health service chiefs can ask themselves to assess whether they are on the right track. These include:
- Do we have clear accountability and oversight of progress on our EDI workstreams?
- What steps are we taking to ensure fair access to training, development and career progression for clinical, medical and non-clinical roles?
- How are we engaging with staff networks to drive change?
- Have our initiatives to address the ethnicity pay gap led to improved representation of ethnic minority staff at senior levels?
Cordery added: "Taking a person-centred approach is vital when tackling the ethnicity pay gap, as the issues are rooted in multiple interconnected factors including systemic racism and inequalities in recruitment, entry and progression.
“Our guide aims to maintain momentum on this issue and bolster the efforts of NHS organisations across England. Whilst tackling the pay gap is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to creating fair and inclusive workplaces, it is an urgent priority.”
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