Employee motivation boosted as gender pay difference closes

Date: 09/12/2010

Pay differences between men and women have narrowed in the last year, news which should boost female employee motivation.

The difference between full-time pay packets fell from 12.2 per cent last year to 10.2 per cent this year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

And women are earning four per cent more in part-time pay than men, an increase of 2.5 per cent from last year.

Workers in the public sector saw a smaller difference between men and women's pay at only ten per cent, although part-time workers in the private sector did better than those in the public sector.

Mark Williams, from the ONS, said: "This year's results continue the pattern we have seen in recent years of the gender pay gap tending to get narrower.

"In 1997, the gender pay gap in median earnings for full-timers was around 17 per cent and it has now dropped to around ten per cent."

However, some experts believe that pay does not encourage higher staff morale.

Stephen Archer, from employment agency Spring, said that employee motivation is driven by a huge number of factors and pay is by no means the most important.

Posted by Elizabeth Mewes 

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