Businesses are pressured with a number of regulatory guidelines to make sure they are operating effectively. Some of these are in an attempt to provide a safe and fair workplace for all employees, like providing equal opportunities for remuneration.
Gender pay gaps have persisted across a number industries through countries over the world, with many programs put in place to try to reduce the bias towards males.The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has released guidelines addressing these issues, which aim to make the process easier to manage for SMEs across the country.
The WGEA has compiled a list of possible factors that may cause pay gaps to eventuate if not properly considered. These can be mitigated through careful monitoring of business practices or through HR consulting. They are:
- Management of parental leave costs
- Allowing for flexible working hours
- Reduced or removed HR involvement
- Little consideration of HR strategies and issues
- Ineffective data management and review procedures
Step one, according to the WGEA, is to understand the core issues, how they manifest themselves and how they can be solved. Knowing is half the battle, and is a big step towards addressing scenarios that could result in pay gaps within organisations.
After this research has been done, the agency recommends data and report collection in order to get an idea of how your workplace is operating with regards to gender pay equity. The guidelines provided state that fair remuneration goes beyond moral and legal obligation and can actually increase productivity and employee wellbeing.
Finally, the WGEA advises businesses who have performed the first two steps to take action and make decisions that benefit all employees within a company. This includes listing any issues that arise, and producing a plan that provides a comprehensive list of all actions needed to facilitate gender pay equity.