Publications

Thinking High and Low: Exploring pay disparities in society

By 01.09.15PublicationsAugust 28th, 2020No Comments

A new essay collection looking at pay gaps within organisations – how and why they’ve widened, what this means and how we might calculate an appropriate ratio. Including essays from Conservative MP David Davis, Daily Mail Associate City Editor Ruth Sunderland and Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics at Manchester University and former Vice Chair of the BBC Trust.

Our essay collection looks at the issue of pay ratios within organisations. How and why they’ve widenened, what this means and how we might calculate an appropriate ratio.

With new measures requiring pay ratio disclosure having been implemented in India and due for introduction in the US in 2017, the issue of pay ratios is likely to be an important part of policy debate in the UK. The consequences for business of widening gaps between senior management and workers across the company hierarchy merit further discussion, while pay gaps within firms also have consequences for society-wide inequality. Pay ratios also relate to the UK’s relatively low levels of productivity (in comparison to other advanced economies) and high number of low-paid jobs.

The collection features the following essays:

Foreword
Deborah Hargreaves, Director, High Pay Centre

The economics of high pay: market forces and market power
Diane Coyle, Professor of Economics, University of Manchester

It’s all relative: why we need to publish pay ratios
Ruth Sunderland, Associate City Editor, the Daily Mail

Ratios could align top bosses with workforce rather than shareholders
Simon Caulkin, business writer and former Management Editor of the Observer

Give bondholders more of a say on pay
David Davis MP

What should CEOs be paid? Views from around the world
Michael Norton, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

Christian Aid and pay ratios – a case of practising what you preach?
Duncan Brown, Head of HR Consultancy, Institute for Employment Studies and  remuneration adviser to Christian Aid

US CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratio Disclosure will change how much business leaders are paid
Brandon Rees, Deputy Director of office of investment at US trade union body,AFL-CIO

Linking success: do pay ratios help or hinder commercial performance?
Jane Burgess, Partners’ Counsellor, John Lewis Partnership

Download Report