What are they, and how can they make the most impact?

What are gender equality action plans?

Gender equality action plans are used to identify the goals and actions an organisation is going to take to tackle gender inequality within their organisation. As well as defining clear objectives and timescales, the plan outlines the people and budget needed and highlights how progress will be tracked and reviewed.

Why are they being introduced?

Gender pay gap reporting has been in place for large organisations (over 250 employees) since 2017, but at the current rate of progress, it is expected to take another 40 years to achieve equality. To address this disparity the Government has introduced gender equality action plans to advance progress. The plans will be voluntary for large organisations from 2026 and mandated from 2027. The new approach will prompt businesses to consider the barriers to gender equality that are specific to their organisation and how they can overcome these by setting measurable, achievable goals using evidence-based guidance. 

How can a plan make the most impact?

Whilst it will be up to organisations to decide how they will meet their objectives, any plan must address the reasons why women are being left behind if it is to make headway in closing the gender pay gap. 

It is estimated that the motherhood penalty, where women’s careers pay the price for having a family, accounts for 80% of the gender pay gap. Having a child opens up the gender pay gap significantly, as highlighted by recent figures released by the Office for National Statistics showing that women face an average earnings reduction of 42% after their first child. 

Therefore, any plan must make foundational changes to build family-friendly workplaces that supports women to return and progress in work alongside their caring role and enables men to lean into caregiving.  

Below are some of the most common areas you may wish focus on that can have the biggest impact on gender equality. 

1. Make flexible working for all 

The 2023 Flexible Working Act, which gave employees the right to request flexible working from day one, and the new Employment Rights Bill both recognise how important flexible working is in helping working families manage day-to-day life. As well as giving productivity and retention a boost, flexible working opens doors for women to work at their skill level, rather than accepting roles below their skill-level simply because they offer flexibility, as is the case with 3 in 10 UK parents. 

However, employers should be mindful that without instilling a culture that motivates men as well as women to take up flexible working, policies risk reinforcing the gender divide whereby it is only women that work flexibly or reduce their hours, and men feel ‘nervous’ to ask for flex. 

Formal flexible working is available to all Grant Thornton employees from day one, including reduced, compressed or annualised hours including term-time only working, job sharing, and formal home-working. They have established a thriving ‘Agile Talent Community’ that offers opportunities to people who prefer to work on a project-by-project basis, so they can receive support and development opportunities but with independence to manage their time. The reason for wanting flexible working isn’t asked and is not part of the decision-making process. Managers receive training, resources and support on inclusive decision-making and unconscious bias to discuss career development without assumptions based on work pattern or caring responsibilities.

2. Design flexible roles at all levels

The new legislation will shift the emphasis toward employers and employees finding flexible working solutions together. Thankfully, there are many flexible options to choose from and negotiate, such as compressed hours, staggered starts, shift-swopping, and term-time working, to name a few. To effectively close the gap, there needs to be a supply of high-quality flexible roles, and designing roles to have an element of flexibility can put employers on the front-foot. 

Alongside this, employers should work hard to avoid a part-time penalty, whereby those working reduced hours are less likely to be promoted. For senior roles where reduced hours aren’t feasible, job shares have proved to be an effective solution that enable women to maintain or progress into leadership roles whilst managing their caring responsibilities. 

Zurich is a prime example of what can be achieved with a pipeline of part-time positions at all levels. Having decided to advertise all jobs as flexible five years ago, they have made astonishing progress, creating a sustainable workforce that focuses on the retention and development of existing talent. In two years alone, part-time internal promotions increased by 167%, fundamentally shifting the perceptions of part-time workers being stuck on the career ladder, and the number of women in part-time senior positions has more than doubled since 2019.

3. Advertise flexible roles

Flexibility can be as important as pay for mothers looking for a new job, and yet, only 30% of UK job adverts offer flexibility. Not only does clearly advertising flexible options unlock a much larger talent pool for employers, it gives mothers the confidence to move jobs without losing the flex they currently rely on.

The Bank of Ireland has put flexibility at the core of its strategic approach to support women to thrive. As well as flexibility in hours and location, a ‘Flexible Working Matching Promise’ is on offer, where the bank promises to try and maintain existing working arrangements to enable women to progress without the need for flexibility being a barrier.

4. ‘Real’ models

You have to see it to be it, which is why ‘real’ models are crucially important to help women see themselves in leadership. Senior leaders who share their experiences of imposter syndrome, which can be a real threat to success, can empower other women to challenge their own negative thinking. Don’t overlook promotions for women who are on maternity leave. It is a huge vote of confidence and sends a loud message that having children is not detrimental to having a career. 

Having leaders who are vocal about working flexibly or celebrating those who are promoted whilst working flexibly can have a big influence on making it acceptable for both men and women to access flexible working. 

The Stories Collection at ZS promotes relatable examples of mothers working across the business including parents from offices around the world sharing how they manage home and work life, and ‘A Week in the Life’ is a video series of women navigating the juggle. Other resources include material on every stage of maternity and family leave, including myth-busting based on real life experiences, and materials to facilitate team discussions on how to support one another during life events.  

5. Parent-friendly policies 

Enhanced paternity leave and pay can shift the burden of care away from mothers and normalises fathers stepping up to a caring role from the get-go. For women, a generous maternity leave pay and package, alongside policies on fertility support, signals a positive attitude to having working mothers on the team. The gold standard in parental leave is to provide equalised leave and pay, to enable parents to decide what works best for their family in dividing up care for their baby. 

A framework of policies at Pan Macmillan is designed to support mothers at every phase, starting with time off for fertility treatment and six months of fully paid maternity leave. Parental leave policies recognise the need to be inclusive to promote gender equality, evidenced by equal leave entitlements for all parents regardless of gender or the pathway to parenthood. The importance of the manager role is emphasised with mandatory training on effectively supporting pregnancy and maternity transitions. 

6. Support for returners

Returning to work after having a baby is a pivotal moment in widening the gap. A lack of formalised support makes it harder, and sometimes impossible, for women to adjust to their dual roles, but the presumption that women won’t want as much responsibility can be just as damaging. Building better support into the transition to and from parental leave sends a clear message that having a family doesn’t have to mean the end of a woman’s career. 

Parental leave coaching can empower women to articulate what they need on their return to work and can help women overcome the confidence gap so they feel able to put themselves forward for promotion. Fully paid phased returns recognise the difficulty of the initial transition period, and can work as a good trial period for changing work patterns by seeing what’s possible for both employee and the organisation. 

Hill Dickinson offer career conversations to employees that have been away for an extended period. They are designed as coaching conversations and can help facilitate a smooth transition back into work, whilst also ensuring that individuals are supported in balancing their career aspirations alongside other commitments.

7. Focus on culture

Policy alone isn’t enough for meaningful change, it requires a supportive culture that understands and is responsive to the needs of caregivers. Prioritising listening can give valuable insight into gaps in support and policy, and make people feel valued. Engaging and consulting at all levels of the organisation leads to understanding an organisation’s unique challenges, and can strengthen ownership and reduce resistance. 

Training managers ensures consistent support across an organisation and can transform an individual’s experience. It can be helpful to use checklists for preparation and to ensure someone feels supported at every stage. Working Families provide templates that can be used as a guide. 

Policies and ways of working at the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) have been developed through collaboration between the People Team, Senior Leadership Team, networks, employee reps and colleague feedback that ensures they work for everyone at every stage of their career and life. Flexible working is the norm that is talked about and embraced at all levels, from the CEO and COO to all levels. All staff meetings are hybrid and rotated on different days to enable participation. Emails include a message that normalises flexible working, and there is an email moratorium from 7pm to 7am to discourage out-of-hours responses. Instead of appraisals, RAE focus conversations around development goals and career aspirations, and progression is assessed on the personal and business case rather than just the role, ensuring opportunities are available for those working flexibly.  

8. Take a strategic approach

Be methodical about the measurement of impact and what success looks. Pilot different approaches and collect evidence. Assess which are the most valuable indicators, for example monitoring and pay and progression of part time and flexible workers, monitoring work patterns by gender and type of flex, or monitoring return rates. Enrich your insights with qualitative data where possible to bring the need for change, or the success of policies, to life. Understanding your starting point, for example by taking the Family Friendly Workplaces self-assessment to evaluate policies and practices against an evidence-based global standard, puts you in a position to have clear plan to make measurable impact. 

9. The chance for real change

Unless measures are integrated that empower women to fulfil their caring responsibilities alongside their career, equality action plans risk not making a significant dent in the gender pay gap. But by implementing family-friendly policies that respond to the needs of the business and employees, reinforced by effective cultural change, businesses stand to not only close the gender pay gap, but create a more dynamic, engaged and productive workforce.  

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Find out how family-friendly your workplace is – take the Self-Assessment.