Wage Parity

Is It Time to Pay the Piper?

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This is an interesting old English expression. In today’s terms it refers to the ultimate cost of poor or self-indulgent behaviour. It seems employers around the globe have been demonstrating very poor behaviour when it comes to male and female compensation practices.

Where the pay equity issue is concerned, perhaps it is time for organizations to step up and pay the piper by way of addressing and absorbing the cost of the wage gap between men and women. Indeed, this seems to be a trend that is unfolding worldwide in various developed countries.

MacLean’s magazine released two versions of its cover in February; one for men, with a price of $8.91, and another for women, with a price of $6.99. A clever way to highlight the fact that in Canada men make 26% more in full-time wages than women.

This is a global issue. Let’s review some of the concerns around pay equity in other parts of the world:

Tesco, a UK grocery store chain is facing a 4 billion Euro pay equity law suit

The BBC is being accused of fostering a gender pay gap between its male and female reporters

Icelandic companies must now prove they are paying men and women equally, and get government certification

According to Stats Canada, Canadian working women make $0.74 cents for every dollar a man makes

The gender pay gap is a systemic issue in organizations, but that is no longer acceptable in most countries. It is time for all organizations to take an in-depth look at their compensation practices to see if there is a gender pay gap, and to assign resources to correct it.

It is high time for organizations to pay the piper, and to close the gender wage gap. The only way for them to do this is to implement and maintain a comprehensive and fair job evaluation process.

Discussion Questions:

  1. You have been asked by your VP of HR to research the job evaluation process and what it entails. Once your research is complete, you are to produce a 5-minute presentation for the board of directors focusing on the process necessary to complete a formal organizational job evaluation.

Visit the HR Council of Canada as a starting point for your research.

Quality of Job Evaluations

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It is all in the job evaluation method.

Job well done - concept , boss showing thumb up to one of his employee in the office
Eviled/Shutterstock

In the HR industry we call Job Analysis (JA) the foundation of any HR Department. In a similar sense, then, Job Evaluation (JE) would be considered the foundation to the compensation system.

This video clip outlines the four most common methods of JE’s.

Click here to watch the video “Four Methods of Job Evaluation”

What is the purpose of job evaluation? According to the HR Council of Canada, “Job evaluation is the systematic process for assessing the relative worth of jobs within an organization.” And even more importantly it is “a comprehensive analysis of each position’s tasks, responsibilities, knowledge, and skill requirements is used to assess the value to the employer of the job’s content and provide an internal ranking of the jobs.”

Worth and value are the true purpose of doing a JE; it helps determine wages/salary, an important aspect of the compensation system. It is hard to imagine how an organization could survive long term without some kind of JE system in place. Unfortunately, though, many of them shy away from conducting a JE for many various reasons. New HR practitioners should become knowledgeable on how to conduct JEs in any organization to ensure their value and worth.

 Discussion Questions

  1. Compare and contrast the benefits and negatives of the four methods of job evaluation. Consider why you would choose one method over the other. Be prepared to defend your answer.
    Quantitative
    – Point Rating
    – Factor Comparison
    Non-Quantitative
    – Ranking or Job Comparison
    – Grading or Job Classification
  2. If you were the HR Director of a compensation department which JE system would you recommend to ensure your company is in compliance with pay equity legislation.

To Disclose or Not Disclose?

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What is the big workplace secret?

Employee compensation economy. Man working on laptop sitting next to young woman under money rain. Pay difference concept.
pathdoc /Shutterstock

We have it in the public sector: it is called the sunshine list, but should we have complete salary disclosure in the private sector as well?

In an interview with David Burkus, an Associate Professor of Management at Oral Roberts University, Sarah Green Carmichael from Harvard Business Review brings the topic of salary transparency right to the forefront.

Click here to read the complete article.

David Burkus is the writer of a book called, Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual. His research says that complete pay transparency makes for a better workplace for both employees and employers. His thesis is that when we keep salaries secret people feel they are underpaid and this breeds disengagement.

Click here to watch David Burkus speak on this issue.

Salary disclosure is a topic that many employees and employers are not comfortable talking about. But does it happen anyway in the workplace? Everyone has some idea of what their coworker makes, but no one has complete information, so assumptions are made and we know how often assumptions are wrong or inaccurate. Having access to accurate information helps: it can possibly create a more trusting and collaborate working environment. If so, perhaps more employers should consider removing the veil of salary secrecy, as David Burkus suggest.

Discussion Questions

  1. With a partner, have a debate and discuss the benefits and negatives of salary transparency in the workplace. Please research your arguments and plan on using your arguments to defend your position.

Why Job Evaluation Matters

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Workplace Gender Equality in a Business or Career
kentoh/Shutterstock

True confessions: As a female HR practitioner, I should not be surprised by the fact that women continue to be underpaid and undervalued in today’s workforce, but I am. Wage parity between male and female workers has been problematic for far too long. Unfortunately, this problem of wage inequity continues to be an issue in workplaces across the globe. As noted in a recent article providing an international perspective, the wage gap difference between male and female workers does not seem to be resolving itself any time soon.

Click here to read the article.

Q: What is the answer to this seemingly never-ending problem?

A: Job Evaluation.

Very simply, job evaluation offers any employer a tool, a methodology and a path to creating job equity using gender-neutral point systems that measure the value of work within any organization. While many employers in Ontario may balk at the implementation costs related to these systems, at the end of a job evaluation review, the employer can rely on a process that counter-acts systemic gender-based wage discrimination.

True job evaluation systems allow for the neutral review, measurement, assessment, examination and evaluation of work performed regardless of who is doing the work. Job evaluation should eliminate (or at least reduce) the need for a female worker to put herself through the rigors of demanding to be paid equally for work that her male counterparts are performing. If the system works, it will work for everyone, male and female alike.

The push for this change for wage parity started decades ago.

It’s time to make it happen.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In your opinion, why are employers resistant to implementing job evaluation systems voluntarily?
  2. What are the benefits to an employer of maintaining wage inequality between male and female workers?
  3. If you had to fight for a wage increase based on gender inequality – what steps would you take to make it happen?