FAIR PAY MATTERS

Read our essential tips for Businesses and Employees
to close the pay gap.

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5 tips for businesses tackling the ethnicity pay gap

From Darain Faraz, Co-Founder, People Like Us

Measure it properly, not just once - Calculate your ethnicity pay gap the same way you would gender pay gap data, and break it down by seniority level, not just as one blended average. A single number can hide where the real gaps sit.
Publish it, even if it's uncomfortable - Transparency builds trust and accountability. Businesses that report proactively (ahead of any mandatory requirement) tend to see faster internal buy-in for fixing the problem.
Audit your promotion and pay-review process, not just hiring - Most gaps widen after people join, not at the point of recruitment. Look at who gets stretch projects, who gets promoted "early," and who's negotiating pay rises.
Set targets with named owners and deadlines - A commitment without an owner is just a wish. Assign the action to someone senior whose bonus or performance review is tied to progress.
Invest in progression, not just entry-level diversity - Funding a grad scheme is easy PR. Real change means mentoring, sponsorship (someone advocating for you in the room, not just advising you), and clear pathways into leadership for Black, Asian, Mixed Race and minority ethnic talent already in the business.

5 tips for individuals navigating pay and progression

From Darain Faraz, Co-Founder, People Like Us

Know your market rate before you negotiate - Use salary benchmarking tools and industry contacts to find out what people at your level are actually paid, so you're negotiating from data, not guesswork.
Document your wins as you go - Keep a running log of achievements, positive feedback, and impact. When performance review time comes, you're not scrambling to remember what you did all year.
Ask direct questions about pay bands and progression criteria - "What does it take to get to the next level here, and what's the pay range for that role?" is a fair, professional question. Ambiguity tends to protect the status quo, not you.
Build a relationship with a sponsor, not just a mentor - A mentor gives advice. A sponsor speaks up for you when you're not in the room, for promotions, pay rises, and high-visibility projects.
Don't negotiate alone if you don't have to - Talk to trusted peers about pay ranges where you can. Pay secrecy tends to benefit employers more than employees, and shared information helps everyone negotiate from a stronger position.

5 Expert Tips on Tackling Pay Gaps

From Asad Dhunna, Founder & CEO, The Unmistakables

Unlock the extent of the issue - There's no single fix that works the same way for every company. The right approach depends on a business's size, make-up and ambition, so start with a clear set of principles rather than a one-size-fits-all plan. This is often about leadership behaviour as much as policy, making sure DEI statements are backed by real, equitable practices.
Understand how colonisation and coins are linked - Attitudes to money are shaped early, often by how our households and parents spoke about it, and those patterns connect back to bigger histories. For many people from ethnic minority backgrounds, that includes Britain's colonial past. Closing today's pay gap means understanding that context, alongside greater transparency and shared responsibility.
Uncover robust frameworks for performance and pay conversations - Structured thinking helps take bias out of pay decisions. The ORCE model is a useful example: observe behaviours and performance, record them objectively, classify them into clear categories, then evaluate fairly against set criteria. It works both ways, for the people setting pay and the people asking for it.
Unleash cultural confidence amongst leaders and line managers - Bias often creeps in at the reporting-line level, so equip managers with the skills and language to talk about pay and reward with confidence. That means understanding the gap's impact in terms of both money and morale, and knowing how to influence upwards to close it.
Unite intent with accountability - Principles and frameworks only shift the needle when someone senior owns them. Pair every commitment with a named owner, a timeline, and a way of tracking progress, so ambition around closing the pay gap turns into measurable change.