Helen Nugent

Pay rises, payday loans, students and savings

Women do ask for pay rises – they just don’t get them. That’s according to research by Cass Business School and the universities of Warwick and Wisconsin.

The theory that women get paid less than men because they are not sufficiently pushy in the workplace is not true. Women are as likely as men to ask for a pay rise – but are less likely to get one, the study, which looked at 4,600 workers, revealed

It found ‘no support’ for the ‘reticent female’ theory, whereby women avoided asking for more money. For what it claimed was the first time, the study eliminated any impact from part-time workers earning less than their full-time counterparts, by comparing full-time males with full-time females, and part-time males with part-time females. When like-for-like male and female workers were compared, men were 25 per cent more likely to get a pay rise when they asked. Payday loans

Payday loan complaints have risen sharply but the list of gripes about financial products is still dominated by payment protection insurance (PPI).

The number of complaints about payday lenders more than tripled to 4,186 in the first half of the year compared with the previous six months. The Financial Ombudsman, which compiled the figures, said borrowers had become more aware of their rights. Sports Direct Sports Direct will axe a ‘hierarchically and potentially oppressive’ six strikes firing policy and offer directly employed staff on zero-hours contracts at least 12 hours’ work per week, according to an external review into workplace practices at the retailer. The Telegraph reports that Sports Direct hired law firm RPC to review employee procedures and corporate governance. In its 88-page report, published today, it found the company guilty of ‘serious shortcomings’, amid a barrage of criticism from shareholders, the media and politicians over the retailer’s business practices.

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