WOMEN LOSING OUT ON PAY RISES BECAUSE THEY “FEEL AWKWARD”

WOMEN URGED TO HAVE THE “AWKWARD” CONVERSATIONS AT WORK FOR THEIR OWN – AND SOCIETY’S – BENEFIT, AS PART OF NEW GOOD MONEY WEEK CAMPAIGN

New research by Good Money Week (5 – 11 October 2019), the campaign to raise awareness of ethical and sustainable finance, suggests that one of the reasons women may be losing out on money in the workplace is because they are less inclined than their male counterparts to have conversations in the workplace that are often deemed to be difficult.

The findings come as Good Money Week is this year encouraging Britain’s workforce to be braver and banish the awkwardness around important conversations at work, particularly around where their pension is being invested and if it matches up with their values.

Other conversation topics the campaign is urging people to broach include flexible working, the gender pay gap, shared parental leave and pay rises.

The research shows that:

• 17% of women compared with 12% of men say they have never had a pay rise
• In the last 6 months, 41% of men have discussed pay rises with their boss, compared with just 30% of women
• Women are less likely to ask for pay rises with 27% saying they’ve never asked for one compared with only 18% of men
• Women are more likely than men to feel awkward about asking for a pay rise (27.5% vs. 20%)
• Men are more likely to feel excited (24% vs. 16%) and empowered (20% vs 10%)
• Nearly a fifth of men (19%) will ask for a pay rise twice or more per year, compared with only under 8% of women.

Furthermore, the results show that over half of working women in the UK (55.8%) don’t know where their pension is invested, and 15% of women said they are unlikely to ask where their pension is being invested because they “don’t want to seem awkward or difficult”.

But when prompted, women said the places that they would like to see their pension money invested were:

• Green Energy (44.5%)
• Sustainability (40.7%)
• Reversing Climate Change (40%)
• Water Conversation (34.2%)
• Renewables (29%)
• Pharmaceuticals (16.7%)
• Organic Food (15.8%)
• Electric Vehicles (14.6%)
• Companies with Women in Leadership (12.3%)

Charlene Cranny, Campaigns Director, Good Money Week, said:

“This year’s Good Money Week campaign is focusing on banishing the “awkwardness” around important conversations we should be having with our employers. It’s disappointing to see that women could be losing out in the workplace because they are concerned about seeming awkward or difficult. Not only are they potentially missing out on pay rises, but this reluctance to “be a bother” to their employers could also mean that their pension funds are being invested in companies that do not marry up with their values. 

Women have huge potential in the world of ethical and sustainable finance – our research findings last year revealed that they are more likely to care about how ethically their money is invested, but they need the confidence to broach the topic and take action. It needn’t be an awkward issue – you are fully entitled to change where your pension is invested if you’re not happy about it, and it can be very straightforward to do.

The impact women could have on the planet and society by ensuring their penion is ‘good’ could be huge and I look forward to them fulfilling their potential in this area.”
 
 

Head to www.goodmoneyweek.com for more information.