6 Steps Toward Gender Pay Equality in The Australian Workplace

The best practice guidelines as well as the Australian employment laws oblige all Australian employers to implement steps toward curtailing gender-based pay discrimination. The bad practice of pay discrimination that originated in the 1900s when lot of women entered the workforce saw women get paid 50 or 75 percent less for the same work. Sadly this has still not been eradicated fully in many workplaces in Australia.

Gender pay equality defines the system where men and women are remunerated equally for the work of the same or comparable value. This means that the work conditions and pay in the workplace are accessed in a non-discriminatory way and are based on the skills, competencies and responsibility levels to name a few. Promotions, training and flexible work arrangements should be equally accessible to female employees as they are to male workforce.

The figures from Australian Bureau of Statistics prove that gender-based pay discrimination still occurs in Australia. These statistics show that the pay gap is real and women are paid 17% less than men in similar roles at work. What seems to influence this real gap are factors such as undervaluation of the industries dominated by women workforce, reduced access to training for women, lesser participation in bonus and performance payments by women and lack of flexibility in the workforce not allowing workers with family responsibilities to prosper; women are a great part of this group.

Implementing gender pay equality in the workplace has shown to reap many benefits; employers can expect to have staff that are more motivated and retain the best and brightest workers eliminating unhealthy attrition rates. Many of pay equality abiding companies also become known in the industry as the employers of choice attracting most sought after candidates and also avoid negative publicity that may arise from unfair dismissal or pay inequality legal proceedings. Following are the best steps employers can undertake toward achieving pay equality in the workplace.

1. Ensure the company has clear policies and performance review process in place to ensure equitable access to training, bonuses and promotions.
2. Set up new or check existing pay setting process making sure that those are free of gender bias
3. Ask a question whether all the roles within the company fairly defined and level or responsibility and working conditions consistently measured.
4. Have a pay equality audit to check whether the gender-based pay inequality exists within the organization. The easiest way to conduct this audit is via payroll data.
5. Ensure that flexible working arrangements are available for all workers and that the flexible culture is supported within the company.
6. If you notice any inconsistencies within your organization, these can either be justified or need to be eliminated altogether.

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