Bridging the racial and gender pay gap

Could one simple question be the cause of massive pay differences between men and women, BAME and white people, and disabled and able-bodied workers...

"How much did you earn in your last job?"

The gender pay gap in the UK is thought to be around 19%, that means that for every £1 a man earns a woman earns around 80p.

When it comes to race the pay gap in the UK is even worse. The Trades Union Congress estimates the difference in average pay between white and black workers amounts to a gap of 23%.

Recently I realised I might have played a role in these depressing figures just by asking one simple question.

How much any particular position in the television industry is paid can be a broad range - annual reports such as the one published in Televisual will give an average but this hides massive difference. Where on this range an employer may pay a new recruit is often based on the answer to one simple question; "How much did you earn in your last job?". 

As a TV exec I have often been involved in more recruitment of employees and freelancers than I care to remember and although I have often been able to avoid being directly involved in the messy business of salary negotiations I have been aware of HR asking that very question.

The problem with the question is that it bases future earnings on what people have been earning in their previous jobs, perpetuating, and even building on, historic pay differences. What this means is that what you get paid in your first few jobs can have a massive influence on your earnings twenty to thirty years later as each new job salary is determined by the job before it. This can disproportionately adversely affect BAME people, women and disabled workers.

For example black people in the UK suffer from higher rates of youth and graduate unemployment than their white counterparts. This can lead them to taking less well paid jobs early on in their working lives to get on the career ladder. The same may also be true for disabled people and new mothers who both experience higher rates of unemployment.

But if future earnings are often based on earlier salaries how can people interested in diversity and tackling incomes gaps break the chain?

One US state Massachusetts thinks it has the answer.

In August they passed new legislation than bans employers asking prospective employees what their previous salary was.

That's right from June 2018 it will be illegal in Massachusetts to ask; "How much did you earn in your last job?".

The new law received cross-party support as well as backing from the Chamber of Commerce (possibly nervous about heading off future lawsuits).

The new law means employers will have to state a salary upfront, as the New York Times states; "based on what an applicant’s worth is to the company, rather than on what he or she made in a previous position".

There are no similar laws in the UK banning the one simple question but as an exec dedicated to pay equality that doesn't mean I can't start acting on the principle now.

So next time I am employing a new recruit I will resist asking the one simple question.

And next time I am interviewed for a job myself and my prospective employer asks me how much I earned in my last job I will answer; "on average 23% less than if I were white".