British companies should look into whether LGBTQ+ employees are being paid less than their straight counterparts, the government’s newly appointed LGBT Business Champion said on Friday.
Since 2017, most businesses in England, Scotland and Wales with more than 250 employees have had to report on their gender pay gap, and firms are now moving to look at reporting on race-related wage inequalities, too.
Iain Anderson, who has been appointed to the new role to boost equality in the workplace, suggested that approach should also be applied to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender workers.
“Particularly given what we’ve all been through over the past 18 months (during the COVID-19 pandemic), pay is almost the most important metric when a lot of people can’t all be together,” he said.
“It’s an issue to look at,” Anderson said, adding he would contact businesses, trade unions and LGBTQ+ groups for input.
A 2019 YouGov poll for professional networking site LinkedIn found full-time LGBTQ+ workers were paid 16% less than their straight peers – more than double the current British gender pay gap.
British law protects workers from discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity, but according to LGBTQ+ rights group Stonewall, more than a third of lesbian, gay, bi or trans staff do not disclose their LGBTQ+ identity at work.
Anderson said that situation must change.
“The role is to drive workplace change around well-being, around attracting talent (and) around addressing inequalities at work,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
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