Employees

Margaret Thatcher once said "In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman". Perhaps that's what the present incumbent of 10 Downing Street had in mind when the government first asked Denise Kingsmill to look into women's employment and pay two years ago. The wait was worthwhile, as her recommendations, formally published earlier in the year, set out an agenda for action that - if implemented - would transform the results revealed by Opportunity Now's admirable annual benchmarking study.

Her business case analysis is crystal clear, as is her understanding of the limitations of relying on that alone. In summary, the public sector should conduct audits of pay and employment conditions and report on their human capital management annually. She says the private sector should be required to do the latter now, and the former soon, if it does first act quickly and voluntarily. Arguing that the contracting out of public services has affected women badly, she also wants to require public sector outsourcing contracts to maintain previously established fair pay levels and working conditions. The key in all this is mandatory reporting in the promised new OFRs, around agreed indicators (the subject of a second Kingsmill report just out). Despite good progress in recent years, even many Opportunity Now companies are falling down on the basics. A third don't track the numbers of women and men applying for jobs, still fewer those being interviewed and finally appointed; Similarly, a third don't track genderbalance in training provision, and two thirds don't track appraisal results by gender. The good news is that many of these highly practical recommendations can apply equally to other groups experiencing discrimination, such as people with a disability and older citizens.