MORE Australian employers are now conducting pay gap analyses than 12 months ago, with mining sector organisations some of the most likely to have conducted an analysis in 2015, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

The Agency, which has been running an equal pay campaign for the past year, recently released the results of its 2015 report card on employer action on pay equity, which found:

• 1,229 organisations reported in 2015 they had conducted a gender pay gap analysis compared with 1,045 in 2014 – a 17.6% increase;
• 26.3% of all reporting organisations said they had conducted a pay gap analysis, up from 24% last year; and
• 51% of organisations that conducted a gender pay gap analysis took action to address pay imbalances, up from 46.0% last year; and
• Organisations in the Financial and Insurance Services industry were the most likely to have undertaken a gender pay gap analysis (55.9%), followed by Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (44.1%) and Mining (40.2%).

The findings are based on data provided to the Agency by over 11,000 employers representing around four million employees – over a third of the Australian workforce.

The most common actions taken by employers were:

• Identifying causes of the gaps (27.7%);
• Reviewing remuneration decision-making processes (20.5%); and
• Reporting pay equity metrics to the executive (19.4%).

The Agency’s acting director Louise McSorley said enshrining pay equity in remuneration policies was also on the rise.

“We’re delighted to see a 7.5 percentage point increase in organisations including pay equity objectives in their pay policies, growing from 18.1% last year to 25.6% in 2015,” she said.

The Agency also released a case study by Commonwealth Bank, one of its 84 Pay Equity Ambassador organisations.

Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) can help

As the national resource industry’s dedicated gender diversity initiative, AWRA can assist resource employers to take steps towards increasing women’s participation and gender equality in the workplace.

AWRA’s ‘Recognised Program’ provides detailed feedback and advice on an organisation’s diversity strategy and approach to a number of areas that help or hinder gender equality.

For more information on how AWRA can help your organisation get its diversity strategy on track, or for specific advice on pay equity or related matters, visit www.awra.org.au or contact [email protected].