When Will The Gender Pay Gap Close?
Your weekly round up of what's going on in the Admin world
Hello to you all. I hope you’ve had a good week.
After the messages I got from you last week about my system migration escapades, this week’s Reality Wrap is about those annoying meeting-after-the-meetings that seem to happen outside of our control.
I found a demoralising article this week about the gender pay gap (probably not a spoiler if I say the outlook isn’t great); an excellent bookmark-for-later review on travel risk (I’m sure it’s not just me that finds this stuff interesting); and a really interesting report on what our expense claims say about us!
I hope you have a lovely weekend - I’ve got a golf lesson, a French lesson, and a strongman weightlifting session. I’m not sure which one I’m more scared about!
Yvette x
NewsWrap
30 years. 30 YEARS! It’s been reported this week that the gender pay gap won’t close until most of us are retired. So women will spend the rest of our careers being paid less relative to our male peers. You might think that in a female-dominated industry like ours, we would be ok. But according to the survey (by the Trades Union Congress in the UK), industries where women make up the majority (in this case they were referring to education and health & social care), the gender pay gaps are as high as 17%. HOW are we still in this position?
Then what shouldn’t be a follow-on from the previous article, but unfortunately is, this week we’ve been given advice on how to get noticed at work. As someone who has, throughout my career, been told that I needed to take on more “visible” work (🙄) aka code for “do more work for no more pay”, I find these types of articles a little patronising. However, we do live in a political world, where promotions are as much about who you know as they are about the quality of your work. So if you are struggling, you might get some inspiration here.
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How many of us are using AI in our day-to-day work? What results are we getting from it? Apparently these two metrics aren’t aligned, with about a third of all American companies who use generative AI being uncertain about it’s ROI, and another 40% of companies who adopt these tools go onto abandon them. So what is this telling us? AI isn’t a magic wand if you don’t know how to use it properly? Well, no ****!
Business Travel News have released their Travel Risk Outlook for 2026, which might sound as dull as dishwater, but it’s honestly really interesting. It’s split into four different sections covering immigration, cyber crime and more. You can even watch their webcast if you’re that way inclined. Either way, I’d save this to read on your lunch break or commute (if you’re not driving), or even reference back if you are booking some corporate travel in the future. Keep informed!
As if we didn’t realise this was going to be a natural place to be if we stopped training our line managers! This survey was completed in the UK, but I would imagine the themes are typical of a lot of places: managers not able to or confident enough to deal with people-related issues. When that happens, companies open themselves up to all kinds of liabilities, and employees end up taking them to tribunals or suing. Surprise surprise.
What do our expense claims say about us? Another UK-based study, but really fascinating, about what we are spending - and expensing - through our employers. Of course, whilst this is really interesting, remember that putting through an expense claim isn’t the only way to pay for your business expenditure. When looking into things like home office setups, some companies buy the equipment, whilst some others give a stipend for this without requiring receipts. Even so, what might be the top hotel chain to stay in? Or the average time to approve a claim?
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🔎 RealityWrap
The Meeting After the Meeting
Most organisations don’t have a productivity problem, they have a backbone problem.
The meeting runs smoothly. Smart people say smart things (and some not so smart people say some even less smart things). Action points are captured, and everyone leaves feeling vaguely aligned.
And then the real decision making happens later. In a side chat, on Slack, or on a “quick call” with just the senior voices.
That’s the meeting after the meeting - and it’s where accountability goes to die.
Let’s call it what it is. This isn’t collaboration; it’s avoidance. Leaders who don’t want to disagree publicly. Stakeholders who won’t commit in the room. Senior people keeping optionality because decisiveness feels risky.
So they nod in public and then try to win people over in private.
The cost is brutal: rework, slower deals, misaligned teams. But the deeper damage is cultural. People learn that meetings aren’t where decisions happen. They learn to posture instead of commit, which makes this problem get into the core of the business until it becomes the norm.
If you’re in Ops or you support leadership, you feel this first. You’re the one chasing actions that were never truly agreed. You’re the one following up on something that has since changed.
And no, the fix isn’t “better minutes” or a shinier project management tool. The fix is courage and a backbone.
At the end of a meeting, someone has to say: What are we deciding? Who owns it? Does anyone fundamentally disagree? If that question makes the room uncomfortable, good. That’s the point! If people feel uncomfortable, then it wasn’t a particularly good or clear meeting in the first place.
If decisions only solidify once the right people leave the room, you don’t have alignment; you have theatre.
EventWrap
How do you build an Org Chart? Something that so many of us have done so many times over our careers, and will continue to do so. Are we doing them effectively? Perhaps you are doing it for the first time and need a bit of help? Never fear, we have the session for you! Well, EA How To does, and it’s next Tuesday. Get all the info here (oh, and members get FREE access to the tool!!)
Join The Officials on 5th March for a session about utilising tech in your performance review. From AI prompts, to tools that help you structure, this session will be helpful for anyone with an upcoming review. Get all the info here
ASAP are hosting a webinar and Q&A session on 5th March at 1pm Eastern on how to manage change in your organisation while you are delivering a high profile project. With change management one of the things which most companies get really wrong, this is something that should help you massively if you are delivering some high stakes projects.
For a list of Conferences, head over to the Conferences section in our Ultimate Assistant’s Toolbox.
If you are running an event aimed at administrative professionals, please send me an email and let me know all about it - hello@theadminwrap.com
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