FINANCE


New research from PwC shows that the sector a company operates in has a significant influence on its likely gender pay gap, suggesting that more industry-wide approaches to improving opportunities for women in the workplace are needed to really shift the dial. PwC analysed the mean data


submitted to the UK Government by the 10,000 companies that have disclosed their gender pay gap data so far, and found that the sector a company operates in is a far better indicator of their pay gap than the number of people it employs. Financial services, construction


Industries must work together to eradicate the gender pay gap


Be prepared: how you can get


the most out of procurement Nottingham-based Mark Lloyd, who has over 20 years’ experience of procurement and supply chain management at Promitheia Consulting, looks at how you can get maximum value out of the procurement process.


Procurement and tendering are often seen as confusing subjects. They are seen as being all about red tape, endless form filling, and baffling processes. But if sales are the lifeblood of any business, and


tendering is the norm to win new business, it is vital to gain a good understanding of how to tender well. So, where do we start?


WHERE IS THE TARGET? A great starting point is to think about sales targets. This might sound like an odd question, but a lack of thought about this is something that I find all too often. Who are your targets in terms of contract value or geographical location? What opportunities are coming up on the horizon? A little understanding right at the start can go a long way to driving the actions that you take.


DO SOME WORK UPFRONT A vital principle for great procurement is being equipped. As Baden Powell stated when he started the Scouting movement in 1907, “Be prepared”. In short, how do you do what you do, and where is it recorded? Do some research to find out the standards that buyers require and work out what actions you will need to take to reach them.


68 business network July/August 2018


VISION AND VALUES Procurement is all about matching needs with supply; it’s that simple. So, if you can help the buyer to do what they need to do, you stand a great chance of winning the game. Spend time finding out the vision and values of your target organisations, either through their websites or tender documents. Write your bids with these values in mind, so that you can align what you do with their aspirations and desires.


EVIDENCE Responses to tenders are always full to the brim with statements. So, what is the problem? Such responses often score poorly because there is no evidence to back up these claims. The solution is clear – use evidence for everything that you claim.


FEEDBACK Regardless of your level of success, it is vital to learn from your experience. A key to learning is to ask the buyer for feedback on your responses, accept it graciously and incorporate findings into your thinking. Being equipped to tender is the single most important change you can make in improving your business potential for success. So, what are you waiting for?


and mining have the highest pay gaps as a sector, while accommodation and food, transportation and health organisations have much smaller pay gaps. This will make it more challenging for certain companies to address their gender pay gap in the short-term unless they also tackle broader industry-wide challenges, such as a lack of women in the sector, the pipeline of women coming through to the profession and a poor reputation on opportunities for women. The reasons driving higher pay


gaps differ between sectors. In retail organisations, the larger proportion of women in the lowest pay quartile is a key driver of the gap. Whereas,


Mark Lloyd


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