More employers than ever recognise the importance of looking at their own data when seeking to improve gender equality within their four walls. Workplace Gender Equality Agency (‘WGEA’) data showed that in 2018, 40% of organisations conducted a gender pay gap analysis. If your organisation isn’t in that 40%, then you may find you are falling behind the eight ball.
With the benefits of gender equality in the workplace well documented, it should be a priority for organisations.
Workplace gender equality is linked by research to improved performance, reduction of groupthink, enhanced organisational reputation, improved ability to attract and retain the best talent and increased profitability and innovation.
A good starting point to tackling gender equality, is addressing gender pay gaps within an organisation.
WGEA’s Guide to gender pay equity identifies six steps to begin your journey towards equality:
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Awareness and understanding:
Before you can start addressing the issue, you must recognise the issue. A sound understanding of the concepts will help you contextualise the factors that may have an impact on any gender pay gaps in your organisation. WGEA has a range of resources to learn more about the gender pay gap and pay equity. Start here: The gender pay gap. -
Build a business case:
Why is it important to your organisation? The business case is what you will need to articulate exactly why your organisation must achieve gender equality. This is crucial to achieve high level support of the ongoing project. -
Gain leadership commitment:
Securing commitment from the top is critical. Remember, accountability is a two-way street: the leadership team must hold the organisation accountable and the organisation must hold the leadership team accountable. -
Analyse the data:
What get measured, gets managed. An organisation must determine where they gaps are and what the causes are before effective action can be taken. WGEA has just released an updated version of the gender pay gap calculator to help you achieve a more detailed analysis. You can find it here: Analysing gender pay gaps. -
Strategy and action:
Create the roadmap – the next step is to figure out where you are going (the goals) and how you plan to get there (the actions). -
Review and refine:
There is no quick fix to closing gender pay gaps within an organisation. It is a process that takes time, conscious effort and continuous monitoring.
Hear how St Barbara, one of WGEA’s Employers of Choice for Gender Equality, conducted their gender pay gap analysis: