feature
What can employers
do to close the gap?
• Lead from the top
• Make a plan
• Analyze your data
• Be aware of bias
No matter which calculation is used, the gap clearly exists, re-ports
the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
So what does a 13-cent difference truly amount to? Well,
consider this. If a woman is earning the median annual sala-ry
in Canada – around $51,000 per year, according to a 2017
Workopolis report – and she works standard, full-time hours.
Dusting off some algebra skills, that means her male counter-part
would be earning about $58,620. That extra $7,620 per
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year is striking enough in isolation, but over a 35-year career?
That turns into an earnings gap of $266,700 (without even
accounting for raises, promotions and other income changes
over time).
That gap is likely to widen when we account for intersection-al
identities, like women who are also a racial minority or women
with LGBT identities, according to research by the Economic
Policy Institute.
According to the Government of
New Zealand – the OECD nation
with the lowest Gender Pay Gap
– there are several key actions
employers can take to significantly
narrow the gap in their workplace:
Source: Government of New Zealand, Ministry for Women
• Redesign your talent
management processes
• Maximize female talent
• Normalize flexible work and parental
leave for men and women
ADDRESSING THE UNDERLYING FACTORS ARE CRITICAL TO CREATING
PROGRESS WHEN IT COMES TO NARROWING THE GAP.
24 ❚ FEBRUARY 2018 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL