You would never believe how huge the gender pay gap is in Hungarian Tesco!
In 2017, Tesco made a report regarding diversity and gender pay gap within the corporation. This report has been mandatory in the United Kingdom since 2019. Recently, the British multinational corporation has decided to follow the original idea in three other countries, including Hungary, besides the neighbouring Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Although Spar has recently announced that there is no difference between the salaries of its male and female workers and that it supports equal pay, Tesco’s report is one of a kind, being the first in Hungary that dedicates a segment to the gender pay gap phenomenon, forbes.hu reported.
The average gender pay gap in the European Union is 14.1%, and it is 18.2% in Hungary. At Tesco, the gap is an astounding 15%.
This gap, however, is the consequence of different jobs of male and female employees. For instance, there are certain departments, such as IT and finances, where the employees are predominantly male. Also, men are more likely to work overtime or take up night shifts. The report has furthermore shed light on some other interesting data.
There are five generations working at Tesco, aged 18-77, and middle-aged employees are overrepresented. 57% of employees have been working at Tesco for more than a decade, representing 21 different nationalities among the staff. 51% of employees take care either of their children or their parents, 18% have health issues, and 67% of all employees are women.
“In 2021, women in the EU are making 14.1% less money than men,” reports hvg.hu.
The portal also found out that the European Commission made a proposal to combat the gender pay gap issue. It states that employers have to inform job applicants about the wages in the job advertisement or during the job interview. Moreover, employers who have over 250 employees will have to give information about the gender pay gap in the future. Furthermore, employees who are discriminated in terms of wages will be able to get compensation. If new rules are accepted by the EU, member states will have to implement them within 2 years.
Hvg also writes that
“the European Commission estimates that improving gender equality by 2050 could increase EU GDP by €2-3 billion. According to the World Economic Forum, equal pay for men and women will be achieved everywhere in the world in 257 years.”
Source: Forbes, hvg.hu