Achieving a zero per cent pay gap isn’t easy – but keeping it closed it even harder
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Taking steps to eradicate a gender pay gap isn’t always easy but for organisations that achieve equal pay, the battle still isn’t over – now, they have to keep the gap closed.
HR head Robin Davies is now facing that very challenge – after closing her company’s 3.2 per cent pay gap last year, she’s rolled out a number of initiatives to ensure the disparity never returns.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to tick off gender pay and take our focus off it here at Lion,” she tells HRD. “I think we’ll be monitoring it for many years to come because it’s a systemic issue in the New Zealand marketplace and we take our people from that marketplace.”
As well as closing the gap, Lion has made changes to many of its processes at the point of hire, the point of promotion and the point of remuneration adjustment.
“Firstly, we’ve really focussed on using robust external remuneration data to determine the salary of a role, rather than relying on someone’s opinion of what a role or even an individual candidate should be paid,” she says.
Rather than leaders analysing the data to determine the ideal salary, Lion’s talent and acquisition team are now charged with interpreting the information and making an offer.
“They are real experts on that external data and they’ve also had a lot of unconscious bias training so it gives them that slightly different perspective on what an appropriate remuneration would be.”
The company has also stopped disclosing a candidate’s previous salary to potential leaders.
“We’re trying to test whether by knowing what somebody’s currently paid, that actually introduces an unconscious bias as to what you would pay them when they come into Lion,” she explains.
The firm is also ensuring women who are on maternity leave get annual pay increases in line with the rest of the organisation.
“If they slip out of that annual cycle these women can get behind really easily,” warns Davies.
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Kiwi firm eradicates gender pay gap
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HR head Robin Davies is now facing that very challenge – after closing her company’s 3.2 per cent pay gap last year, she’s rolled out a number of initiatives to ensure the disparity never returns.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be able to tick off gender pay and take our focus off it here at Lion,” she tells HRD. “I think we’ll be monitoring it for many years to come because it’s a systemic issue in the New Zealand marketplace and we take our people from that marketplace.”
As well as closing the gap, Lion has made changes to many of its processes at the point of hire, the point of promotion and the point of remuneration adjustment.
“Firstly, we’ve really focussed on using robust external remuneration data to determine the salary of a role, rather than relying on someone’s opinion of what a role or even an individual candidate should be paid,” she says.
Rather than leaders analysing the data to determine the ideal salary, Lion’s talent and acquisition team are now charged with interpreting the information and making an offer.
“They are real experts on that external data and they’ve also had a lot of unconscious bias training so it gives them that slightly different perspective on what an appropriate remuneration would be.”
The company has also stopped disclosing a candidate’s previous salary to potential leaders.
“We’re trying to test whether by knowing what somebody’s currently paid, that actually introduces an unconscious bias as to what you would pay them when they come into Lion,” she explains.
The firm is also ensuring women who are on maternity leave get annual pay increases in line with the rest of the organisation.
“If they slip out of that annual cycle these women can get behind really easily,” warns Davies.
Related stories:
Kiwi firm eradicates gender pay gap
Major bank named top employer for women