It’s a fact, pay equity continues to be an issue for Australian women today at all levels of pay.

In recent years there have been a number of pay equity inquiries around the country, with the most recent in Victoria reporting just this month. They all show that regardless of how you look at it, be it total earnings, full-time adult total earnings or full-time adult ordinary time earnings, women earn less than men.

Whether it be a gap of 33.7% or 19.3% or 15.2%. A gap is a gap is a gap.

The challenge we face is really addressing the issues of pay equity, so that women that have contributed to the economy, worked and supported families do not end up in poverty in their most senior years.

Unfortunately the causes of the gap are varied, which means that action can be complex or even that organisations hide behind the assumption that pay equity has already been met with legislative measures.

EOWA’s vision is to create an Australia where women in the workplace can achieve their greatest potential. We believe that addressing issues of pay equity will work towards women achieving this potential.

Our mission in achieving this is in part to provide unique, leading-edge knowledge and solutions.

I am delighted therefore to officially launch today – Playfair, Payfair – the EOWA Pay Equity Tool.

From the reports submitted annually EOWA identified a need for what many of the State enquiries have now called for, a tool to help business audit and analyse issues of pay.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Juliet Bourke, the NEEOPA Committee, Freehills and all of you for giving us this opportunity to present it today.

Susan Biggs, known to many of you, will demonstrate the tool shortly. Susan has been working on the tool for over two years with the help of our expert group, Corporate field partners and Tim Sowerbutts, Director, Q Social Research Consultants, who developed the methodology for the pay analysis part of the tool. Thanks also go to Heather Gordon and Maya Hunt of EOWA who have worked hard on this project.

Without the expert group of Darren Taylor IBM, Naomi Mascarenhas (Maskarenhas), AMP; Mary-Jane Gleeson, Macquarie University, Philippa Hall, now in NZ working on Pay Equity and Meg Smith from the University of Western Sydney; and our field partners SC Johnson, Lend Lease, McDonalds, AMP, Macquarie University and Commonwealth Bank; Tim and EOWA would not have been able to build this comprehensive tool.

Simply, the tool is aimed at helping organisations big and small look at a range of variables including grade, organisational structure, employee status, hours worked and education level, and analyse the gender pay distribution.

Analysis is the first step in identifying any pay equity issues and building awareness internally before taking action to address pay issues in the workplace.

The easy seven step process of the EOWA pay analysis tool will assist organisations understand the dimensions and application of gender pay equity.

It is the dimensions that makes true the words of Justice Mary Gaudron – “We got equal pay once, then we got it again and then we got it again and now we still don’t have it.”

Pay equity is still about the same pay for the same work, but is also broader than just equal pay through wages – it includes discretionary pay such as, allowances, performance, merit and bonus payments and superannuation. Other dimensions include the value we place on the work women do and the fact that a majority of women are segregated in lower paying jobs.

Pay equity is about achieving equal remuneration outcomes in the workplace. It is about eliminating sex discrimination from the wage-setting system by ensuring that employers use gender-neutral and gender inclusive criteria to determine the value of job components such as skill, responsibility, qualifications and working conditions.

Why would a business conduct an audit, how would they go about it and what are the benefits, are all covered in the modules of the tool.

Businesses seeking to attract and retain the best talent need to look at issues of pay equity and respond where appropriate with transparent payment and promotion criteria, review job descriptions, remove bias from performance reviews and increase workplace flexibility.

Today one company Praxa will share it’s experience of the pay equity journey. A leading Australian IT professional services firm offering software system engineering, Praxa identified possible gender pay inequities, but it was unclear to them what was happening so they began a review and are now implementing actions.

Before I invite Emma Turner, Human Resources Manager from Praxa to speak to you, there is one last thing I’d like to tell you about the tool.

There are many good things about the Pay Equity tool, but what makes it great is that it is free to download from our website. So I urge all businesses to log onto www.eowa.gov.au and explore how the tool can assist focus your organisation in moving towards becoming an employer of choice for women by eliminating discrimination on pay.
 

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