Men’s perceptions of workplace equality are out of touch with reality according to new research.

Office for National Statistics figures show that full-time working women earn 7% less than men on average, yet three-quarters (76%) of working men still believe their company pays people equally, and 69% of men believe women are promoted equally based on performance.

These were the key findings of the research by HR data and analytics firm HiBob in its fourth annual Women in the Workplace report.

HiBob claimed that its figures showed a quarter (26%) of working women were not promoted in pay, benefits or position in 2024, compared with just a fifth (20%) of men.

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Further discrepancies in perception were revealed around workplace harassment: almost two in five (36%) women have experienced workplace harassment in the past five years, including bullying or intimidation (8%), unwelcome sexual comments or advances (7%) and verbal harassment (6%).

However, three-quarters of men (73%) would characterise their workplace’s approach to addressing potential harassment as “supportive”, with 41% of men describing it as “very supportive and proactive”.

Ronni Zehavi, CEO and co-founder at HiBob, said that workplace culture had to change in that men had to gain a more realistic view of equality. He said: “Workplace change towards gender equality cannot be made without the more privileged group – in this case men – realising the significance of the challenge.

“To create a culture where change happens and is felt by every employee, companies need to increase awareness of the scale of inequality in the workplace, helping each employee understand the challenges and experiences others are facing.”

Salary transparency also came under the spotlight, with research results showing that 66% of men claimed their employer had full salary transparency, compared with 51% of women.

Zehavi added: “When we reflect that a third of the workforce is employed in companies that have less than 25% of leadership roles filled by women, it is perhaps not shocking that progress [towards equality] remains slow.

“Today’s research shows that male workers believe progress is significantly further ahead than it is – and this needs to change.”

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To speed up change, HiBob is calling on companies to provide training to those in “comfortable or more established positions of influence” to understand and support gender equality in the workplace.

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