Source: Unsplash 

Understanding how to calculate a paycheck is an essential skill for every working adult. 

Knowing how much you earn and how much you get to bring home, what deductions are taken out, and what benefits you pay for is crucial for effectively managing your finances and planning for the future.  

Moreover, understanding your paycheck empowers you to know your rights as an employee, negotiate for a better salary, and determine eligibility for loans and healthcare insurance plans. 

However, calculating wages and understanding pay stubs can be complex. Therefore, in this guide, we will demystify pay calculations, explain key paycheck components, and help you understand the actual amount you will be receiving in your paycheck. 

Gross Income vs. Net Income 

When you apply for a job, the salary mentioned in the job posting is usually the gross pay. However, it is the net pay that you will receive in your bank account. 

Gross income refers to the total amount you earn, including your salary or hourly wages, bonuses, etc. If you're paid on an hourly basis, you can use an hourly earning calculator to determine your gross income by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of hours worked. 

After deducting all applicable taxes and pre-tax deductions, you’re left with your net income—the actual amount you take home.  

Reading a Pay Stub 

Another vital step in mastering paycheck calculations is learning how to read a pay stub. 

A pay stub, also known as a pay slip, is a document issued by an employer that outlines an employee's earnings for a given pay period—weekly, biweekly, or monthly, depending on salary frequency.  

Typically, your pay slip will include detailed information on your gross pay, taxes and deductions, and net pay. 

Pay stubs are vital in ensuring accountability and transparency for both employees and employers.  

Primarily, they provide insight into your take-home pay and the taxes and benefits you pay for. More so, they allow employees to easily identify any payment discrepancies or issues with tax withholdings. 

Furthermore, pay stubs may be required when renting a new home, applying for a loan or financial assistance, or purchasing a car. This is because landlords, financial lenders, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations may need to verify your income to ensure that you can afford the payments. 

Now that we have covered what a pay stub is and why receiving it from your employer matters, we will dive into tips on understanding it. 

Elements of a Pay Stub 

Your pay slip contains some basic personal information, such as your name, Social Security number, and potentially an employee ID.  

Generally, it includes three main sections:  

1. How much you're being paid 
2. The taxes you're paying 
3. Any other deductions made 

In the first section, your hourly rate and the number of hours you worked for the pay period are listed, including overtime hours if you're an hourly worker. If you earn an annual salary, you'll see your salary for the pay period and possibly any bonuses. 

Other important information that a pay slip contains is: 

• Tax Data: Your marital status, allowances/exemptions, and tax withholding information, from the Form W-4 you completed. 
• Pay Period: The working period that your paycheck covers. 
• Hours Worked: The number of hours you worked during the specific pay period. 
• Gross Pay: The total money you earned during the specified pay period before any deductions and withholdings are taken out. 
• Year to Date: The total amount of money you earned in a calendar year. 
• Deductions: Refers to taxes, insurance premiums, and other programs subtracted from your gross wages, such as FICA tax, federal and state withholdings, and Medicare. 
• Employer-paid Benefits: Healthcare, dental, or life insurance paid by your employer on your behalf. 
• Net Pay or Net Income: The "take-home pay" after taxes and other deductions have been subtracted from your gross pay. 

Deductions  

Deductions are expenses that are, well, deducted, from your gross income. These deductions include taxes, insurance gratuities, retirement contributions, and other federal and state withholdings. 

The most common deductions you may find on your pay stub are federal and state income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare.  

Federal income tax is calculated based on your income level and filing status.  

State income tax, on the other hand, depends on whether the state has imposed an income tax law. State tax rates vary significantly from state to state, with some states, such as Florida and Texas, not imposing state income tax at all. 

In addition, some cities levy an income tax. If you live in one of these cities, you will likely have an amount withheld from each paycheck labelled local or with the name of your locality. 

As for Social Security and Medicare, these are federal programs funded through payroll taxation. 

Before-Tax & After-Tax Deductions 

Besides the regular deductions mentioned above, there are also before-tax and after-tax deductions.  

Before-tax deductions include payments for medical and dental plans, retirement plans, and flexible spending accounts. After-tax deductions may include life insurance or union dues.  

The exact deductions you qualify for will depend on your circumstances. 

Review Your Pay Stub for Red Flags 

Now that you understand how paycheck calculations work and what information your pay slip contains, let's discuss some of the red flags that can appear on your pay stub.  

Primarily, make sure that your personal information, such as your name, address, or Social Security number, is not misspelt. 

In addition, if you notice there are no tax withholdings that should be deducted, or your pay is inconsistent, mention it to your organization's financial department. 

Finally, it's a good idea to review all elements of your pay stub, including deductions, withholdings, and earnings, to ensure that your money is being allocated correctly. 

Final Words  

Knowing how to calculate your paycheck empowers you to make informed financial decisions.  

Your paycheck, and therefore the contents of your pay stub, may vary due to a variety of factors like overtime, bonuses, or changes in deductions.  

Thus, it is essential to review your pay stubs regularly and stay informed about tax laws.

The data shows that average total pay, including bonuses, was up 5.1% between April and June, while regular pay excluding bonuses grew by 4.7%. 

However, when accounting for inflation, which reached 9.4% in June, total pay dropped 2.5%, with regular pay down by 3%. The decline, which is the quickest since records began in 2001, has hit many UK households hard.

In a comment, ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said: “The number of people in work grew in the second quarter of 2022, whilst the headline rates of unemployment and of people neither working nor looking for a job were little changed. Meanwhile, the total number of hours worked each week appears to have stabilised very slightly below pre-pandemic levels.”

“Redundancies are still at very low levels. However, although the number of job vacancies remains historically very high, it fell for the first time since the summer of 2020.”

“The real value of pay continues to fall. Excluding bonuses, it is still dropping faster than at any time since comparable records began in 2001.”

The first of three 24-hour walkouts by 40,000 RMT members will commence after midnight on Tuesday morning. The members include signallers, train staff, and maintenance workers. Only one in five trains will run on six days of disruption.

The strikes are over pay and attempts to reform the rail industry. The RMT said thousands of maintenance roles were at risk and criticised plans to close ticket offices. On top of this, the RMT condemned planned pay freezes amid a period of spiralling inflation.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps responded to criticism from former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn that rail worker pay was inadequate by saying: "The median salary for a train driver is £59,000, compared with £31,000 for a nurse and £21,000 for a care worker."

Last week, Shapps warned rail workers that they risked striking themselves out of their jobs. Bosses for Network Rail expect the strike action to cost the industry around £150 million in lost revenue.

According to Lucy Franklin, Managing Director of Accordance VAT, this is disappointing, and has prompted responses ranging from outrage about the results to despair about the process, with a healthy dose of weak excuses thrown in for good measure.

In the criticisms and reporting, we run the risk of getting mired in the process, not the impact. Gender Pay Gap reporting represents an immense opportunity to identify if and where there are issues within a business. Visibility is the first step towards progress – and the gender pay gap is an issue we need progress on.

That said, I know that adopting new reporting obligations can be onerous – finance is full of filing and submissions, and Accordance is no stranger to mandatory deadlines. But in this instance, the benefits outweigh the administrative burden. Gender pay gap reporting offers the potential to identify, at every level of a business, where inequalities lie. Whilst this may appear a redundant statement, the lack of progress in gender equality in the workplace over recent decades can attest to the necessity of an issue being recognised, being visible, and being acted on.

This is why Accordance has made the decision to publish our gender pay gap statistics, despite being well beneath the legal threshold for reporting. I want Accordance VAT to play a role in changing a historically male dominated sector. Finance and professional services companies boast a huge number of talented, bright, determined women. Many of these women have great careers in support functions, but those shouldn’t be the only avenues open to them. Financial and professional services organisations are unfortunately disproportionately dominated by men in the more senior positions, and this needs to change. Reporting on our Gender Pay Gap may not affect the systemic issues, but it is a step towards addressing inequality more widely as well as setting the bar for other businesses. We want to lead the way in our sector, and that means voluntarily putting ourselves forward, celebrating our successes where we find them but being the first to highlight where progress is needed.

Publishing our results is just the first step. Having identified that our mean pay gap sits at 12.8% and our median pay gap at -3.5%, we know that we’re doing better than some of our larger competitors in the sector, but we can do more. Publishing our figures shows our commitment to tackling this gap, as do the range of measures we have put in place around recruitment, training, job shadowing, and progression policies. These policies don’t just relate to gender diversity, but also diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, physical ability, health and mental health.

Fundamentally, greater equality in our sector is about much more than just an improvement in statistics. Finance drives the world – and thus has a significant impact on how lives are led. We need to attract the best and the brightest minds shaping this future – and we need people from different walks of life with a seat at the table. Women need to be as key as men in determining the shape and course of finance, and how it affects economies and shared futures. Again, publishing our statistics cannot affect global trends and practices, but it does demonstrate our commitment to equality, and our determination to reshape the sector we work in.

I urge other businesses below the threshold to join us – to publish statistics for staff and for the wider world, and to identify where progress needs to be made. Reporting and publishing on the picture of an organisation offers an immense opportunity to recognise where problems are, and in doing so shape and improve them for the benefit of everyone. Equality requires commitment and a will to change, but the benefits of a more diverse workforce will be felt both in and outside of the financial and professional services sector.

Employees essentially keep the wheels of industry turning and they have the ability to send a very small SME to the top - look at Facebook, for example, once a two-man-band headed up by Mark Zuckerberg, now a multi billion company that has produced some of the best innovations in the world.

In 2017, Facebook was recorded to have 25,105 employees across the globe and that will only increase if their profits maintain their steady progression.

With that said, how much profit do the world’s most successful tech companies make per employee?

Research by PostBeyond shows how the tech companies listed in the Fortune 500 compare for profit made per employee.

Highest profit per employee:

1. Facebook - $634,694
2. Apple - $393,097
3. Microsoft - $171,000
4. Alphabet - $158,057
5. Cisco - $131,81
6. Netflix - $109,588
7. Booking holdings - $102,218
8. Adobe - $94,252
9. Oracle - $67,645
10. HP - $51,551

Despite Facebook’s big lawsuit this year in regard to user privacy, they still have a total profit margin of $15,934 million which is a 5.9% increase from the previous year. Although Apple having a total profit of $48,351 million in 2017, their profit per employee averages out at just $393,097 and is down -0.19% since last year.

Microsoft is one of the longest standing tech companies, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. However, longest standing doesn’t always mean biggest profit - Microsoft has a total profit of $21,204 million (less than half of Apple’s) and it’s profit per employee stands at $171,000. Despite ranking below Facebook and Apple, it’s percentage change from the previous year is 16.05%.

The companies who have had the biggest percentage growth change from their previous year are NetApp (170.81%), Netflix (125.99%) and Amphenol (109.88%) - all of which combined have a total profit per employee of $169,277 million, just under Microsoft’s profit per employee total.

In regard to the companies which have had a negative percentage change from their previous years, Xerox (-264.42%), eBay (-104.46%) and Motorola Solutions (-89.01%) have been hit the hardest. Data on PostBeyond’s interactive piece here also shows that Dell, eBay and Motorola Solutions are also within the bottom Fortune 500 companies by having the lowest profit: Dell losing $-3,728 million, eBay losing $1,016 million and Motorola Solutions losing $-155 million.

What is the worth of each employee in the industry you work in? Do you think your company is floating or falling?

This follows reports from Personnel Today, which identified a consistent rise in commuting times, with travel times now five minutes longer than they were in 2007. With UK workers losing more and more time to the daily commute – what does this equate to in terms of potential earnings?

Workers of UK could earn an average of £6.29 each day on their commute, which over a year equates to a significant £1,634.40. Based on a full working lifetime of 49 years (16-65), the potential earnings throughout a whole career is a whopping £80,134.60.

The people of London have the potential to earn the most, at £169,639.47 over a lifetime – £13.32 a day, £3,462.03 a year – and those from Northern Ireland have the potential to earn the least over a lifetime, at £58,013.35 – £4.56 a day, £1,183.94 a year.

“It’s not until you crunch the numbers that you can see the staggering financial cost of commuting in UK, and across the whole of the UK,” says Dan Greenslade, Marketing Specialist at Meetupcall. “There is such high earning potential during commutes, we can’t help but wonder whether this research will make individuals rethink how they spend their commute – and perhaps make more productive use of the time.”

“Employers have options too. There are so many developments in technology now that facilitate remote working, allowing staff to cut out the commute entirely, or work flexibly while they’re on the move.”

(Source: Meetupcall)

Over the years, the astronomical earnings of top-flight footballers have been widely talked about. Considering, on average, a Premier League footballer earns 100 times more in a week than a UK employee – it’s easy to see why there is an underlying controversy.

This debate inspired TicketGum.com to identify 25 England players who are in contention for the World Cup 2018 squad and see how long it would take a person with the same name in the working world to earn their footballing namesake's considerable weekly wage.

To accomplish this, TicketGum.com utilised Adzuna’s ‘ValueMyName’ tool, which analysed over 500,000 CV’s to reveal the average salary for 1,200 first names. Although the first names of England’s two most prominent players (Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli) could not be found on Adzuna’s system, the findings were astonishing.

Experienced goalkeeper Joe Hart has the highest weekly wage out of all the considered footballers. This ironically translates to an average Joe working the longest amount of time at an exact 4 years, 7 months, 1 week and 3 days to earn the £175,000 made by the shot stopper. Thereafter, a normal Kyle would have to work the second most at 4 years, 3 months and 5 days to achieve the £130,000 weekly income of high-flying right-back Kyle Walker.

Individuals called Phil, on average earn the most in the workplace at £1,071.30 per week. Consequently, anyone with the first name Phil must work 10 months, 3 weeks and 2 days to make the weekly wage of centre back Phil Jones (£50,000). Contrastingly, individuals called Jordan earn the least in the workplace at £529.83 per week. This means they would need to work 3 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 2 days to match the weekly wage of dynamic centre midfielder Jordan Henderson (£100,000).

Putting the spotlight on England’s star player Harry Kane – he not only earns 163 times more in a week than a regular Harry but it would take the regular Harry 3 years, 1 month, 2 weeks and 2 days of work to reach the hefty £100,000 made by the free scoring talisman on a weekly basis.

On the other end of the scale, goalkeeper Tom Heaton has the lowest weekly wage (£15,000) from the included English players. Therefore, a working Tom would have to work the shortest duration of time at 4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days to attain the same sum. Slightly above Tom is Marcus, who would need to work 8 months and 3 weeks to get the weekly £30,000 paid out to the young and exciting Marcus Rashford.

Adam Taylor, a spokesperson from TicketGum.com commented: “Over the years, the disparity between the earnings of footballers and that of normal people has further widened. To show the extent to which that has been the case in a measurable context, this research precisely highlighted the amount of time regular Joes would take to earn their footballing namesake’s weekly wage. The findings demonstrate that most individuals would need to work excess of one to four years just to make the one-week wage of England’s most prolific players – which is truly astounding.”

(Source: TicketGum)

It’s a discussion that has been ongoing since business was a thing. Why should the boss be paid more than his/her employees? Here Chris Abbass, co-founder of Talentful, delves deep into the considerations to make when posing this question.

As the founder of a fast-growing business, I can attest to the levels of stress, sacrifice and sleepless nights executives go through to build and run their companies. At an executive level, you are expected to be available 24hrs a day and have a huge amount of responsibility for the successes, but also any failures your business may go through. Further, individuals who set up businesses take on an immense amount of risk – they have much less security, and put themselves at risk of potential failure if the business does not go to plan, which can greatly damage their reputation.

When it comes to CEOs and those at C level positions, though they did not start the business, they have the success of it resting on their shoulders. We have seen many individuals at executive level get fired for things that have gone wrong without the bat of an eyelash. Executives are in positions with the highest risk and are held accountable for anything that goes wrong or right in the organisation. Because of this, I believe that their pay should be reflective of their successes and failures.

Pay, at the executive level, should always be in line with how well the business is doing, how successful they are, and how much value the individual is bringing the business. If the business is performing well this should be reflected in executive pay. Conversely, if an organisation’s performance is very bumpy and inconsistent, then CEOs should not be taking home huge pay checks and bonuses.

An example of when executive pay has gone tremendously wrong was during the economic crisis when big bankers were taking home massive bonuses while firms were failing and people were losing their jobs and homes. As a business founder, I believe this is unacceptable and suggests individuals taking advantage of their position and thus their pay. This should never happen, but on the other hand, if banks and institutions are doing very well and are creating a lot of money for the economy, then executives undoubtedly deserve their large pay checks and bonuses. Overall, executive pay should reflect on how well the individual is doing. If you are making losses for the business and are putting your employees out of jobs, you should not be taking home a massive salary.

Executive pay should be an accurate reflection of the amount of work and pressure the individual takes on and should be proportionate to the size and profitability of the business. If a company is losing money, then this should be reflected in executive pay, and conversely, if the company is over-performing those at the top should reap the rewards.

The time of true financial freedom has likely already arrived for those born on or before 1st September 1953 (Baby Boomers), but the future is not looking so bright for the Millennial generation (born between the early 80s up to 00s), who will face a more expensive and far longer financial struggle – according to a new study.

The study, which was carried out by retirement finance specialists Age Partnership, set out to find the true age of ‘financial freedom’ for the Millennial generation – with some interesting stats uncovered along the way.

Millennials (otherwise known as Generation Y) who began work at 21 and spend their younger years saving for a deposit, do not take out a mortgage until they reach an average age of 30. And to make matters worse, once they have a mortgage they will then spend 50% of their entire monthly income on bills!

Taking a look at earnings, the average wage for a Baby Boomer started at £10,140.96 in their first job aged 19, and were given an average 1.9% pay increase year on year, resulting in average lifetime earnings of £599,429.42.

This is comparable to today's Millennials, who have experienced a starting wage of £13,533.12 on average at the age of 21, with yearly pay increases of 3.7%, earning them up to £1,803,718.11 in their working lives.

Those born between 1940 and 1964 usually took out their first mortgage at the age of 22, with houses at the time costing around £4,975 at the start of the 1970s.  According to the study, mortgages taken out by Baby Boomers typically took 33 years to pay off.

This is a huge difference to Generation Y, who battle housing costs of upwards of £220,000 on average, and who do not take out a mortgage until the age of 30. It may sound like the Baby Boomer generation had it easy when buying a home, but they were faced with fluctuating high mortgage interest rates of up to 16%, whilst Millennials are currently enjoying lows of around 4%.

Research also showed the average age of a first-time mum in 1980 was 23.5 years old, compared to Millennials who are waiting until they reach on average 28.6. The cost of raising a child who reached adulthood in 2003 was £140,398, whilst the starting costs for Millennials having children in 2013 begins at £222,458 taking into account factors such as childcare, holidays, hobbies and food, and we are yet to see how the economy will shape the true amount spent once these children reach age 21 in 2034.

By the time parents reached 51 and a half, most Baby Boomers offspring had moved out and become financially independent. This compares to the age of 58.6 for Millennials parents, as it is predicted that their children will be living at home until the age of 30 (at least), further increasing the cost of having children for Millennials, from an already hefty 25.2% of lifetime income.

Age Partnership's study revealed that the general age of retirement for Baby Boomers was 59.6 years old, but unfortunately Millennials won't be retiring until the age of 68. Not only that, but Generation Y also incur an additional cost of travelling for work, which can add up to a grand total of £90,826 over their entire working life.

All of this combined means that the Millennial generation will have paid off their mortgage, finished shelling out for their children, and finally retired, just one week before they reach the ripe old age of 70 – if they're lucky! Meaning 70 is the age of financial freedom for the Millennials.

Tim Loy, chief executive at Age Partnership, commented: "Retirement can be an opportunity to live the way you have dreamed about all your working life, whether that be taking up an interesting hobby, or travelling the world. Juggling finances as we come across necessary obstacles in our lives can be challenging, which is why it’s important for people to have access to information which will help them to make informed decisions about their future.

"Having a good idea of when you will be financially free can help you to enjoy your retirement to the fullest, getting the best quality from life, which is exactly what we aim for when helping our customers."

(Source: Age Partnership)

Employees of UK small businesses are working an average of eight extra hours unpaid every week at work and home - worth £1.6bn* to the UK’s SMEs - according to new research** from Paymentsense, Europe’s leading card payment supplier. Worryingly, 16% of those surveyed work even more hours, with younger workers (aged 18-24) averaging 11 extra unpaid hours every week.

The main reason for SME workers doing so many extra hours is to keep up with the volume of work (58%), followed by pressure from their manager (30%) and, more positively, 28% wanting the business to do well. However, this is leading to nearly half of people (42%) feeling more stressed, and over a third (37%) feeling taken for granted by their employer.

Managers might take note that 36% of SME staff said they rarely, or never, got credit from their bosses for putting in the extra hours. What’s more, almost a third of them (29%) have considered leaving for another job or changing career completely as a result of the frequent unpaid overtime. A further quarter (26%) would consider starting their own business, or going freelance (16%), to escape their current roles.

Clare Dimond, a leading business coach and author of 'Free Choice' said: “With a smaller number of staff, the contribution of every employee in an SME is critical. Employers that value the time, creativity and mental clarity of each individual will see the impact on their bottom line and staff retention rates.

“Directors can role model good mental health behaviour for their teams. Avoiding stressful thinking, spending time exercising or with family and creating a culture of strong relationships, and individual contributions, make for a healthy, inspired career and home life.”

Guy Moreve, Head of Marketing at Paymentsense commented: “We know from working with over 50,000 of the UK’s small businesses that SMEs are constantly challenged to balance the often-unpredictable demands of growth, with looking after hardworking staff - especially in potentially uncertain economic times.

“Keeping employees happy should be a priority, given its impact on productivity levels. The good news is that perks don’t have to cost a fortune. Our own research has shown that an early Friday finish, the chance to work flexible hours, and a free day off here and there: for birthdays, duvet days or to help with moving house are the amongst most sought-after benefits.” 

‘Can you just…?’ Top 8 reasons SME staff work late unexpectedly

1. Last minute request from client or customer (39%)
2. Last minute request from boss (37%)
3. Meetings overrunning at the end of the day (34%)
4. Keeping up with admin (32%)
5. Attending meetings at client or customer locations (24%)
6. Equipment or computers playing up (21%)
7. Manager’s poor time management (20%)
8. Their own poor time management (19%)

* Average UK salary of c.£27K, equal to around £104 per day (average of 260 working days per annum). 15.7m UK SME workers according to FSB figures.

** Research undertaken from July 4-5, 2017 amongst 1,000 UK SME employees.

(Source: Paymentsense)

Sopra Banking Software uncover why it is that men still dominate senior positions in Tech and why men are out-earning women, even in equal positions.

The UK gender pay gap won’t close until 2069 unless measures are taken to combat it now. That’s another 53 years that women will continue to pay a higher price for being female.

A study by McKinsey Global Institute found that in an ideal scenario, where female roles are identical to those of men, “as much as $28 trillion, or 26%, could be added to the global annual GDP by 2025.”

Gender Disparity in the Workplace

Laura Parsons, Senior Manager at Deloitte, shares these findings: Last year, girls outperformed boys in every science, technology, engineering and mathematics subject, and even though innumerable top-paid jobs demand capabilities in STEM subjects - 70% of women in the UK with a STEM qualification aren’t working in compatible fields.

What is it that pushes women out of these industries, and how do we secure them from entry level to senior positions, and offer support in pursuit of entrepreneurial ventures?

Unsurprisingly, McKinsey Global Institute found that 38% of women in the technology field feel that gender discrimination staggers growth and chances for progressing their career in the future. 60% of these women attribute not wanting to be a top executive to excessive stress and pressure. Of all the fields researched, these figures were among the highest.

Melissa North, head of human resources at Sopra Banking, shares: “Businesses are not taking adequate measures to ensure women feel they have the reassurance to pursue a work-life balance, including starting a family - and therefore women don’t succeed long term. Feeling like they must compromise having a family to have a career is one of the leading reasons women don’t stick around to get moved into leadership roles.”

Pip Wilson, entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of amicableapps, adds: “Ultimately, the thing that will completely level the playing field is an even split between men and women in childcare.”

As a parent, Pip Wilson shared the domestic workload with her husband to be able to focus on the success of her business ventures. This often meant her husband would stay home while she worked, and vice versa.

Something as simple as employers providing or supporting childcare initiatives for employees could prove to be one of the most important incentives for females in the workplace.

Tech: A Growing Sector for Women

Entrepreneurs and business women, such as Melinda Gates, wife of businessman and philanthropist Bill, see the value of using tech to their advantage: “To me, the tech industry is one of the best places to work right now. If I was working again, I would work in biological science or tech or a combination of both. Every company needs technology, and yet we’re graduating fewer women technologists. That is not good for society. We have to change it”.

Women should view this as the best time to enter the tech market: more people are graduating from tertiary levels than ever before, and women are outperforming men in STEM subjects.

As businesses become aware of what this lack of gender representation means for their overall success, the more women will become empowered to hold positions they didn’t before.

It’s tough to identify whether the gender bias is due to subconscious views during the recruitment process, or from the ongoing cycle that sees women receiving lower pay and fewer promotions, thus resulting in women keeping themselves placed below men through these continuous actions. The social constructs for gender roles will take time to be broken down.

There is good news for women, however. Studies show that those who ask for the same salary as men, in the same role, tend to get offers in line with what they are asking.

What Should the Workplace Look Like?

Take gaming for example: Women make up only 22% of game developers, yet represent 50% of the people who play video games.

As a business woman and consumer, Pip Wilson believes that people inside your company need to reflect the people you’re trying to serve.

Businesses need to recognise the responsibility they have to women and gender equality in the workplace, but also the possible benefits that come with hiring from a larger pool of talent, that includes women:

- Increased labour supply
- Higher incomes
- Productivity gains
- Reduced poverty in developing countries
- A unique angle and approach to problems, due to a different atmosphere cultivated by women

Once a culture of diversity has been adopted and is naturally functioning, there will be a good discrimination in place – one that filters and keeps only the best for the job, regardless of gender.

How Companies Can Address the Gender Disparity:

• Provide practical career insights to educators and policymakers
• Create more support for women returning to work
• Share detailed information on the gender pay gap with employees and the public

Melissa North, Head of HR at Sopra Banking Software adds that networking is important, “Having a belief and not doubting yourself is important as a woman climbing the business ladder as well as making yourself visible to other women in the industry and talking about your struggles. Not chasing your dreams of going into a new field because of commitments attached to gender shouldn’t hold you back.”

Tips for Women in Tech:

Talk to others: Fight the temptation to ‘do it yourself’, and get help and advice from wherever you can

Find mentors and those who have been in your shoes before: male or female

Use tech to your advantage: A study done by Accenture details how mobile tech has made it easier than ever to balance work and home life. Exploit the connectedness, making use of mobile apps and cloud services. A successful business no longer requires a 9-to-5 in an office

Have confidence and trusting your abilities: Many women tend to believe they fall short in the skills needed to thrive in business. A lack of confidence means avoiding intimidating tasks or new disciplines, more so than some men, who are more likely to try

At a time when the tech industry and business overall is dominated by males, women should take this opportunity to get a head start in whatever they want to achieve, using the various tools available in a changing world. Businesses should recognise this as an opportunity to empower women, and to attract the best new talent, regardless of gender – as it’s crucial to growth.

(Source: Sopra Banking)

Looking at data form the past few months, Tim Kellet, Director at Paydata here explains to Finance Monthly the ins and outs of pay rises, wages and bonuses, as well as growth across the nation and the increasing lack of skilled labour supply across several sectors.

Once a quarter we run an extended version of our monthly PAYstats pay and labour market statistics publication.

We began running these quarterly updates six years ago, to summarise and add commentary to key statistics that are relevant to HR and Reward. The data was already in the public domain across different sources, but by producing a document containing everything it made it more accessible, and easier for our customers to digest. The information provided within the report is extremely valuable, providing a comprehensive overview of the current economy, in relation pay and reward decisions.

This spring, and the months leading up to it, has been somewhat of an uncertain time; the Chancellor of the Exchequer has delivered his first, and last, spring budget statement and Article 50 has been triggered. With Brexit looming, it doesn’t appear as if the UK will be experiencing true stability for some time – there is also an avalanche of changes in HR and Employment law that businesses must contend with.

April has brought with it the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, increases in minimum wage, the immigration skills charge, the formal beginning of gender pay reporting as well as changes in taxation and increases in redundancy, sick and family-related pay.

When these changes are coupled with the macro-economic issues and the protracted negotiations that will determine our ongoing relationship with the EU, not to mention the rest of the world, uncertainty prevails.

Already, we are witnessing above target inflation; the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecasted that CPI inflation will rise to 2.4% this year. The rising cost of food, alcohol and clothing along with miscellaneous good and services are a big contributor to the changes. Overall growth is likely to slow as households adjust their spending to a lower income growth due to the 18% fall in sterling.

Despite the turbulent background, little out of the ordinary appears to be happening in terms of pay awards. The extended period of pay movement continues, annual regular pay growth within the private sector had declined to 2.6% by January of this year. Steadily, this is starting to be overtaken by higher levels of inflation, eroding the true value of pay rises. Meanwhile, the productivity problem persists and uncertainties with regards to the markets are doing little to appease an underlying sense that there may yet be darker times ahead.

While the unemployment rate has fallen below 5%, and the employment rate reaching 74.6%, wage growth has remained weak. It is now thought that the unemployment rate can decrease further before wage pressures build to a point where they are sufficient to keep inflation at the 2% target over the medium term.

Bonus payments have also been weaker than expected, and the reports that are being issued from the financial sector on the size of the bonus payments, are likely to make little contribution to overall pay growth in 2017.

There are also significant concerns regarding the supply of suitable people for the labour-market and the availability of EU nationals currently working in the UK. Alongside this, the supply of permanent candidates fell severely in March, although the rate of reduction had weakened since February’s 13-month peak. Similarly, the availability of interim and short-term staff fell at a rate that was the quickest recorded since the beginning of 2016.

This quarter’s CIPD net employment balance (which measures the difference between the proportion of employers who expect to increase staff levels and those who expect to decrease staff levels) has increased by one point to 23%.

Employers in the UK report fair hiring prospects between now and June; 87% forecast no change, while 8% expect to increase staffing levels and 3% expect to decrease – the Net Employment Outlook is 5%.

Data from Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey, shows that in seven of the nine industry sectors, staffing levels are expected to increase throughout the second quarter of 2017. Employers within the construction sector report decent hiring plans with a Net Employment Outlook of 12%. Similar gains are also expected in the manufacturing, utilities and finance and business sectors, while employers in the agriculture sector are reporting uncertain hiring prospects.

The Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment, Kevin Green explains further: “Finding people to do the jobs on offer is rapidly becoming employers’ biggest headache and many are reporting an increasing number of white-collar jobs as hard to fill, including the IT and financial sectors. Shortages of appropriately skilled, willing and able candidates was a problem before the referendum. Our concern is that Brexit will make the problem worse, particularly if onerous restrictions are imposed on people coming from the EU to work. Also, economic uncertainty about future prospects is having a detrimental effect on employees’ willingness to risk a career move at this time, which seems to be driving down candidate availability. This shrinking pool of available candidates means that businesses are boosting the starting salaries and hourly rates they are prepared to offer to the right candidate.”