EQUAL PAY
Guide to equal pay
NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions has published a useful guide describing why more and more organisations are placing pay equality at the heart of their reward strategy and realising the benefits of taking proactive steps.
For Northgate, the case for taking action on pay equity is part of an effective total reward package. It says: “Failing to address equal pay will block the realisation of the workforce’s potential. Promoting the business benefits of paying employees fairly to change the mindsets of employers is essential to driving progress.”
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This seven-page guide:
sets out the legislative framework
discusses the potential impact of the Equality bill, due to be published early this year, which places a duty on any employer in the private sector tendering for government contracts to make pay more transparent
examines the reward case for equal pay
sets out a five-step process to undertaking an equal pay audit.
The reward case
To its critics, the concept of “equal pay” suggests bureaucracy, regulation and the hand of central government policing the concept of flexible, total reward. But as the Northgate guide notes: “What is rarely promoted are the benefits that a pro-active embrace of pay equity at the heart of a reward strategy can provide for an employer. The explicit incorporation of principles of pay equity into reward strategies promotes good employee relations and boosts performance.”
Without the bedrock of pay equity, the guide reckons that many forward thinking reward strategies can crumble due to the unstable foundations that underpin the reward environment. These foundations should incorporate two key elements:
Equal pay audit - an assessment of all policies, practices and procedures from the perspective of pay equity. According to the guide: “An equal pay audit can and should form the basis and foundation for the development or review of total reward strategies.”
Job evaluation - leading to the creation of a measure of internal job relativities. The guide argues that job evaluation is “one of the fundamental elements of any organisation’s reward system and can contribute fundamentally to total reward strategy.”
With flawed or no foundations, pay decisions can be riddled with inconsistencies, the guide says, “leading at least to mistrust and de-motivation amongst employees at worst to equal pay litigation leading to resource hungry legal process and potential pay out to aggrieved staff groups.”
A final word
“No longer is the [job evaluation] process a bureaucratic system of measurement with little or no added value. Job evaluation can, via the definition of the most appropriate mechanisms of role sizing, contribute to role competence profiling thus supporting recruitment, performance appraisal and training and development profiling. These measures can include: job family development and evaluation or detailed individual role evaluation, depending on the business environment.” - NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions.
Want to know more?
Title: A Guide to Equal Pay: The foundation of reward, NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions.
Availability: To obtain a copy of the seven-page report call NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions on its general enquiries line, tel: 01244 572700. You can also visit www.linkhr.co.uk/resource_brochures.php?disp=30 and complete the online form or simply email: rewardinfo@northgatearinso.com.
NorthgateArinso Reward Solutions is an HR software and services provider. It focusses in the specialist reward areas of job evaluation, pay design and modelling, salary benchmarking, equal pay, flexible benefits and total reward statements. For more information visit www.northgatearinso.com/uk/reward.