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<\/p>\nAustralian employers that measure their gender pay gaps are making positive progress in closing gaps between women\u2019s and men\u2019s pay, with leadership accountability being the key ingredient, a new report shows.<\/p>\n
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Research released today by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) finds that taking action to correct gender pay gaps is three times more effective when combined with reporting pay gap data to the Executive or Board.<\/p>\n
The report, Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia\u2019s Gender Pay Gap, <\/em>showed organisations that completed a pay gap audit and took action saw the pay packets of female top-tier managers boosted by $24,000 on average, while male top-tier manager salaries decreased by $4,000.<\/p>\n It also found that more Australian employers than ever are taking action to close gender pay gaps, with organisations in the finance and insurance, and mining sectors leading the way.<\/p>\n Key findings: <\/strong><\/p>\n The analysis of WGEA\u2019s world-leading data by the BCEC explores gender pay gaps across occupations and industry sectors in over 11,000 organisations covering more than 4 million employees in Australia, providing practical insights into how firms can improve gender equality within their own workplaces.<\/p>\n Report author and BCEC Principal Research Fellow Associate Professor Rebecca Cassells said the report findings re-affirm the positive steps many Australian organisations are taking to reduce gender pay gaps.<\/p>\n \u201cMore employers than ever before are taking pay equity seriously, and we are now starting to see this translating into results,\u201d Associate Professor Cassells said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe proportion of employers who undertook a pay gap analysis has risen considerably over the past four years. Leading the charge are the mining and finance and insurance sectors, with almost two-thirds of organisations in these sectors undertaking a pay equity audit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing a re-balancing between male and female wages, especially among top-tier managers as a result of these actions.\u201d<\/p>\n Report co-author and BCEC Director Professor Alan Duncan said the findings show introducing a combination of pay equity actions leads to far stronger outcomes than single actions.<\/p>\n \u201cActions to correct like-for-like gender pay gaps are three times as effective in reducing overall pay inequities when combined with reporting to executives and boards,\u201d Professor Duncan said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor managers, the power of combined actions is even more apparent, with the biggest pay gap reductions seen in companies that combined actions to correct like-for-like pay gaps with accountability at Executive and Board level.\u201d<\/p>\n WGEA Director Libby Lyons said the report proved the maxim: \u2018what gets measured gets managed\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cOrganisational gender pay gaps do not close themselves. They must be quantified and analysed, shared with boards and executive teams and acted upon,\u201d Ms Lyons said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis invaluable report is a call to action for boards and executive teams. They need to ask for their organisation\u2019s pay equity metrics and then be accountable for addressing any pay discrepancies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n