Pay transparency at the point of entry has improved across public affairs - but more needs to be done to support women in their roles
Women in Public Affairs annual industry survey reveals improvement in salaries on job adverts, more women being mandated to return to the office and growing fears that flexible working will impact career progression. Read the report here.
Today, the annual Women in Public Affairs (WiPA) survey, led by research agency Opinium, shares that the industry has seen a growth in the number of firms including salaries on job adverts to over half (60%), a notable rise from 48% last year. Given most women (76%) working in public affairs consider salary or pay band transparency to be more important than most other factors in a job application, this is a promising move in the right direction.
WiPA has championed greater pay transparency as its core campaign for the last few years, dedicating much of their work specifically to driving employers to publish salary bands on job adverts to help women in the industry make informed decisions. As a standard requirement, WiPA only shares job adverts that include a salary as a requirement of any business engaging with the 2,500 strong network.
Despite this improvement in job adverts, this hasn’t translated across transparency of salary bands more widely with only three in ten women (29%) say their company publishes salary bands. For the vast majority of these, this is published internally (82%).
Hybrid working remains common in the public affairs industry, with 80% of women currently in a hybrid working pattern (compared to 84% last year). There is however a trend towards more days in the office, and fewer from home. The number of women in the census working 3 days in the office and 2 at home has increased from 19% in 2022, to 28% last year, to 34% this year. While 81% of women surveyed are satisfied with these flexible working arrangements, for half of the women in the census (53%) the working pattern they currently adhere to is mandated by their company, rather than out of personal choice (37%).
We know that flexible working options are a key factor to keeping women in the industry, yet there remains concerns amongst women that adopting some of these flexible working conditions may impact their career progression. 40% fear that hybrid working may impact their career progression; this grows to 77% when thinking about working part time.
Other findings include:
Women working in public affairs who adopt a hybrid working pattern are fairly split on whether they are more productive at home or at the office. Two fifths (42%) feel equally as productive in both settings, whilst 28% feel more productive at the office, and 29% feel more productive at home.
65% of women in public affairs say that if they were considering applying for a job now, but the flexible working arrangements weren’t published, it would make them less likely to apply than they otherwise would have been. This is particularly true for women working outside of London (75%).
When considering the start of a job application, three quarters (76%) of women in public affairs consider it important to have a clear understanding of the salary range or pay band, the same as last year (76%). The proportion of women who say this is more important than any other factor has increased to 24% this year, from 15% last year.
The proportion of women who feel uncomfortable or very uncomfortable negotiating their salary with their line manager or boss has increased from 48% last year, to 62% this year.
A third of women (36%) working in public affairs aren’t sure if their company’s maternity leave policy provides additional benefits above statutory support.
Last year, WiPA launched its Pay and Transparency Toolkit to help dispel gender-based disparities in the public affairs sector and equip our members and their employers with tools to address this. The first guide of the toolkit focused on supporting members with conversations around pay negotiation, with the upcoming guide set to focus on employers, and include advice for how to better support and keep women in the industry.
Lucy Warren, Head of Campaigns for WiPA, said:
“Improving pay transparency has been one of WiPA’s core campaigns over the past year, so we’re pleased to see some positive movement that more businesses are now including salaries on job adverts. WiPA plays an important role in both supporting employees to navigate the sector and holding our industry account to the standards that we want to see.
We know that flexible working options are important for keeping women in the sector, so in this year’s survey we wanted to better understand how this works in practice, what changes we have seen and what impact it has. Our upcoming Employers Guide will use the findings of this study to help advise businesses and employers on best practices they can implement to help keep more women in the sector.”
Priya Minhas, Opinium Associate Director, said:
It is encouraging to see that more companies are now publishing salary bands on their job adverts and publishing maternity policies compared to last year. However, more needs to be done to tackle pay being a taboo subject, with many women still feeling uncomfortable negotiating their pay.
With the pandemic leading to huge workplace shifts to a hybrid environment, we are seeing a trend towards now returning to more days in the office compared to two years ago. Our survey highlights the positive impact on work-life balance, wellbeing and job satisfaction flexible working provides to women in the industry but also shows that women want more autonomy in choosing how they work. With flexible working arrangements influencing what jobs women apply for, the research highlight steps that companies can take to meet these needs.
Elizabeth Tomlin, Chair of WiPA, said:
“WiPA has run its survey of women in the public affairs industry since 2019 and, each year, the research reveals more needs to be done to address gender-based disparities in the sector. It is encouraging to see a marked improvement on the inclusion of salaries on job adverts, but more needs to be done on improving the transparency of pay bands and on supporting women to feel comfortable negotiating their salary with their line manager.
We will continue to equip our members and their employers to address the challenges highlighted in today’s survey through our Pay and Transparency Toolkit. We understand some solutions can’t happen overnight, but today’s survey demonstrates positive progress to improve pay transparency in the industry.”
Notes to Editors
The survey received 250 responses from women working in the industry. Respondents predominantly work in London (70%) and in-house (63%). The majority of respondents do not have any dependents (76%) and only 15% identify as ethnic minorities.
The results of last year’s survey are available here.
WiPA’s Pay Negotiation Guide can be found here.
The Women in Public Affairs Network was launched in 2012 by Ella Fallows and Laura Gilmore. Now in its thirteenth year, Women in Public Affairs is a well-established forum for women at all stages of their careers in public affairs. We continue to focus on providing useful and interesting events with outstanding speakers which inform, inspire and support public affairs practitioners throughout their careers.
OPINIUM is an award-winning strategic insight agency built on the belief that in a world of uncertainty and complexity, success depends on the ability to stay on the pulse of what people think, feel and do. Creative and inquisitive, we are passionate about empowering our clients to make the decisions that matter. We work with organisations to define and overcome strategic challenges – helping them to get to grips with the world in which their brands operate. We use the right approach and methodology to deliver robust insights, strategic counsel and targeted recommendations that generate change and positive outcomes.