Case study

Communicating the gender pay gap

The situation:

Working alongside an internal communication agency, I was asked to help a large organisation communicate their gender pay gap. It was the first time that reporting was required, and the gap was significant, although not unusual for the sector they were in.

The client was nervous about the reaction from employees and wanted to ensure the communication was sensitive and transparent.

The task:

We worked with the client to understand the reasons for the gender pay gap and what the organisation was doing to address it. We also discussed the tone and the channels available. 

The action:

It was decided that we would communicate via the intranet which was considered the single source of truth in the organisation. All employees had access and there was a comments function that we agreed would be left open.

We then created a piece of content that addressed up front what the gender pay gap was and that it simply wasn’t good enough. We set out the reasons why, what the organisation was doing to address it and how employees could also get involved.

The result:

It was the most read intranet article until that point, and it was well received by the organisation. Article comments expressed appreciation for its transparency, and anecdotal feedback was positive about the way it was communicated and the activity taking place to reduce the gender pay gap.

“Helen helped us enormously – she brought experience, skills and knowledge and applied it to our organisation in a practical and useful way. She was very flexible with changing priorities and challenged us in the right way to make sure we were following good practice. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Helen to anyone who needs an experienced internal comms consultant that can apply years of knowledge to each situation individually.”

Pippa Cave,
Internal Communication Manager
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