It’s the Progressive Practice of the Week! This week we see the first results of Australia’s pay gap reporting since new legislation was introduced.
Australia: For the first time, Australian employers were required to report their gender pay gaps to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and the results are in!
In 2023 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor government changed the law to require the publication of gender pay gaps at every company in Australia with more than 100 employees, a key driver for employer action to speed up progress to close the gender pay gap in the workplace. The results of the requirement of 5,000 Australian private sector employers were released this week.
Major brand gaps with operations in NZ include:
City Chic 57.7%
Jetstar 53.5%
Forever New 50.1%
Pandora 47.2%
Seafolly 44.5%
Virgin 41.7%
Qantas 39.3%
Lorna Jane 36.3%
Bakers Delight 35%
Schindler Lifts 34.9%
Commonwealth Bank 29.8%
IAG 27.5%
Westpac 27%
Lovisa 26.4%
ANZ 22.7%
Decjuba 20.9%
Suncorp 20.5%
Flight Centre 16.8%
Deloitte 16.7%
EY 15.9%
KPMG 12.9%
Specsavers 7.4%
Woolworths 5.7%
PwC 4%
JB HiFi 1.9%
As we know, gender pay gaps aren’t necessarily about equal pay for equal work. The proportion of men in higher paying roles and the proportion of women in lower paying roles is the biggest contributor to pay gaps, so while contributing factors are complex, having action plans to mitigate for conscious and unconscious bias in hiring practices, having a strategic approach to remuneration, introducing practices that encourage men to take parental leave, and including employees on parental leave in remuneration reviews can all impact pay gaps.
We still have work to do in Aotearoa, as there are no legislative requirements for employers to report pay gaps, despite the over 111 kiwi employers voluntarily publishing pay gaps on the Mind the Gap Pay Gap Registry. In August 2023 the Labour government announced, as part of their election campaign, that they would introduce similar legislation to what has been introduced in Australia, with employers with over 100 employees required to publicly publish gender pay gaps, but so far there has been no similar announcements from the incoming National government.
Pay gaps are front of mind for many employees and consumers, especially Gen Z, who increasingly prefer to work for or purchase from ethical employers. In a 2022 SYSCA and Mind the Gap poll, 95% of the 3.4 million strong audience said they would prefer to work for an organisation that publishes its gender and ethnic pay gaps.
If you’re looking to raise your employment brand to attract better quality candidates and hold onto the top tier talent you’ve already got, measuring and publishing pay gaps and developing action plans to mitigate any pay inequities will go a long way to achieving this. We know the perception of fairness in pay forms part of the fundamental health of an employment relationship with employees becoming instantly disengaged when being made aware of pay inequities and disparity.
If pay equity is on your 2024 strategic plan, we’d love to share with you ways you can enhance attraction and retention at your unique organisation through your pay practices, with this complimentary call.
Have you or are you in the process of implementing a progressive people practice in your organisation? Get in touch as we’d love to showcase it!
Read more about Australia’s pay gap reporting here:
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