Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Pay audits are key to equality

by Personnel Today 21 May 2002
by Personnel Today 21 May 2002

One year on, the recommendations of the Equal Pay Task Force and its Just
Pay report are beginning to have an impact.

The basics of an Equal Pay Review are straightforward. Within a Stage One
review there is a requirement to undertake a ‘pay system equality check’ as
well as a ‘review of like work’ and a ‘review of equal value’. The latter two
involve simple comparisons of average hourly earnings and identifying gender
gaps between pay for men and women. The main difficulty is whether this
information is available in a readily usable form.

The Equality Check establishes whether there is a fully communicated ‘policy
on equal pay’ and whether responsibility for implementation has been clearly
assigned. The crunch comes, however, with one question in the equality check:
"Is there a single analytical job evaluation system in place?"

Organisations cannot conduct a cursory ‘review of like work’ but must
address the issue at a more fundamental level – namely with a well-designed,
inclusive and soundly implemented job evaluation scheme.

This provides the foundation for a successful Stage 2 Review, to identify
the nature, causes and extent of pay inequalities and requires an action plan
to resolve any differences.

The selection of factors in an analytical job evaluation scheme must be
non-gender biased (there is guidance given on this in the EOC publication Good
Practice Guide on Job Evaluation Schemes Free of Sex Bias). This does not
preclude, however, the factors selected having a hard business edge to them.

The best business-focused and gender-proofed schemes are designed, developed
and implemented by user organisations themselves – with, generally, only
minimal external advice being necessary if the HR team does not have the
expertise. Of course some resource input is necessary, but with the latest
advances in job holder ‘self evaluation’ this too can be limited.

Job descriptions, which form a fundamental input to job evaluation, need not
be burdensome or restrictive. They can, when audited and improved, be
streamlined documents that can flex to the changing needs of the organisation.
To obtain real value, the same document should be used for recruitment,
training and performance improvement activities as well as providing a basis
for fair pay.

The implementation of job evaluation results – whether used to devise a pay
spine, grades or broad bands – can result in gender bias and a pay audit will
establish whether this is the case. The potential this gives to enhance
development and control of costs while rewarding contribution and achievement
is immense.

Derek Burn is director consulting, DLA-MCG

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
New union to fight boxers’ corner
next post
Football fever cooling down?

You may also like

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022

OH will be key to navigating ‘second pandemic’...

14 Apr 2022

OH urged to be aware of abortion consultations...

8 Apr 2022

How coached eCBT is returning the workplace to...

8 Apr 2022

Why now is the time to plug the...

7 Apr 2022

Two-thirds of shift workers feel health affected by...

18 Mar 2022

TUC warns of April Covid risk assessment ‘confusion’

14 Mar 2022

Consultation on new NHS cancer standards, as waits...

11 Mar 2022

Pandemic pivot to home working fuelled mental ill...

11 Mar 2022
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+