This was the first time that PES Women, together with Zij-Kant, marked the European Unequal Pay Day. • Direct discrimination explains why women sometimes still earn less than men - when women are paid less than men for doing the same job. But this isn’t the case for every employer. “These can range from identifying which roles are similar – difficult for organisations where there is no existing objective evaluation system in place – to the sheer cost of addressing any inequalities. So how can HR teams best tackle the urgent matter of ensuring they pay people doing the same role equally? A crucial distinction many in HR and reward circles have taken great pains to make since gender pay gap reporting first entered the HR lexicon, is the difference between gender pay gaps and unequal pay. Segregation is frequently linked to stereotypes. I still remember the red fibers on the carpet of the hotel room in Chicago when a friend shared her salary.   During these evaluations, you should make sure there are no pay disparities based on gender. Although the equal pay for equal work principle was already introduced in the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the so-called gender pay gap stubbornly persists with only marginal improvements being achieved over the last ten years.. In contrast, the equal pay issue is one of discrimination: paying men and women different amounts for doing the same job. Tea Colaianni, founder and chair of Women in Hospitality, Travel & Leisure and former HR director, agrees that if equal pay audits are to achieve meaningful change, they require the support of all managers who have the responsibility and authority to put right any unjustified pay and benefits inequalities identified. In Louisiana, for instance, the gender pay gap is 31%, the largest wage gap in the nation. “While essential, equal pay audits, and the subsequent addressing of any imbalances, do not come without challenges,” says Wallis. More than half the world's trade takes place between just eight countries known as the G8. On Equal Pay Day, it’s critical that we each do what we can to make workplaces more equitable. To prevent issues with unequal pay, you can monitor companywide compensation on a regular basis. “Are there genuine reasons for this being in the data? “What is important is organisations start getting their house in order before they start making pay transparent, because it’s a legal right and employers that find a gap that’s unjustified are required to fix it.”. One of the many effects of this has been to lower the value of unskilled labour, right around the world, pushing wages for skilled workers and unskilled workers in different directions. The latter is only one of a number of potential factors contributing to the gender pay gap, with others including unequal shares of caring work in the home done by men and women, resulting in women doing more part-time work; the under-valuing of the types of work women do; a lack of women entering certain well-paid careers such as science and engineering; and a failure to promote women. decline of unions – Unions helped increase wages, benefits and working conditions. The gender pay gap is a complex issue with many causes, which are often inter-related. Downloadable! Although “those tend to be relatively new, smallish IT set-ups… there is still only one direction of travel when it comes to pay transparency”, he says. That’s how I found out. The key is to have data good enough to show if there’s a genuine reason for a disparity. “One person was earning a third more and another double my salary, and what they were doing was basic compared to my role. While related to the issue of unequal pay, fear of discussing money is a separate issue that affects women more significantly than men. immigration – Relatively high levels of immigration of less-skilled workers since 1965 may have reduced wages for American-born high school dropouts. Factors that … It’s a measure of inequality and captures a concept that is broader than the concept of equal pay for equal work. To anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation, I’d say don’t be afraid of bringing up relevant legislation.”. Only 65.8% of women with young children in the EU are working, compared with 89.1% of men. “Eighteen months ago, when I was 21, I worked for an IT company and I was one of the first people on their new projects team. After a few months, when some male colleagues I’d been training received their first pay cheques, they made a comment about how much tax they were paying – and it was more than me. 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