Think, Act, Report initiative goes from strength to strength
The 200th company has joined Think, Act, Report. 2.2 million employees are now covered by the initiative promoting gender equality at work.
Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has become the 200th company to sign up to the Government’s Think, Act, Report initiative, which now covers 2.2 million employees.
The Think, Act, Report initiative, introduced in September 2011, encourages companies to think about gender equality, take action to promote opportunities in their workplaces, and report on what they are doing.
Minister for Women and Equalities Jo Swinson said:
The Government’s voluntary initiative Think, Act, Report is going from strength to strength, and I am delighted to welcome Herbert Smith Freehills as our 200th sign-up. Their long term strategic focus on gender equality is exemplary. This means that 2.2 million employees are now covered by the scheme.
I am pleased that companies are now taking more action to encourage and support talented women in their workforce, and many are making that information public. These companies recognise the importance of transparency as a way of attracting, recruiting and retaining female talent.
The Think, Act, Report initiative encourages companies to be open about how many women they employ, and about what jobs they do; to break down the culture of secrecy around promotions and pay that allows discrimination and inequality to persist. Collecting, analysing, and reporting this information is essential to tackling the gender pay gap and addressing the barriers to women in the workforce.
The initiative is voluntary and flexible, and is supported by companies such as Tesco, Bupa, HSBC, Shell and Vodafone. Businesses choose to participate, choose which measures are useful for them to look at – recognising that this will be different for each business – and choose what information to share publicly, and how to do so.
To support women in the workplace, the Government is also giving employees the right to request flexible working, as well as introducing tax free childcare for up to 1.9 million working families, and shared parental leave from 2015.