Do or do not do. There is no Try!

When all staff are empowered in the workplace the effects ripple through society. 

I come from a place of privilege. I’ve mostly been treated fairly by the corporate world for the past thirty years. And the company I work for now exemplify the belief that family comes first and that open collaboration matters. So, when I hear the phrase “pay equity is a human and legal right” I think ‘yeah, totally, but is there really a problem?’.

Well, this week I went along to hear from UN Women about why pay equity is still a battle cry 125years on from when our Suffragettes told New Zealand to sort it out. The panel also offered valued insights on how to achieve pay equity in our workplaces; whether you work in a 350 person organisation or one with tens of thousands of staff. Here are just a few ideas:

• Data is key, but don’t get stuck playing in the data sandpit. Get the data and get out of the sandpit and trade your action toys for action tools
• Think wider than just the dollars. If you concentrate on the dollars only then in 2,3,4 years time you will be back where you started with disparate pay where equal value is derived
• Put a women on every interview panel and do not draft up an offer letter until a least one women of merit has been interviewed. If one of our largest Australasian banks can make this happen, so can you

"Get out of the sandpit; trade in the toy bulldozers for tools of real action"

• Expand on your leadership development programme to focus on the things that some of the quieter or minority leaders may not ‘have in spades’; media training, professional photos, social media training and
• Promote their representation in your corporate presentations, panels, award ceremonies
• Make sure all your managers know the parental leave act inside and out and plan to do more than just the basics of the law
• Pay KiwiSaver/retirement fund contributions while your staff are on parental leave
• Consider managing the things that disrupt working careers, productivity and psychological safety. When these things are tackled head then the solutions assist in creating equality in the workplace, e.g. parental leave and family violence
• Provide financial fitness training
• When hiring ensure the new hire is paid no more than your highest paid, highest performing staff member (bringing in talent from outside and paying them more is demoralising and creates a ‘bounce-back’ workforce who feel they have to leave and come back to get more
• Do pay reviews while staff are on parental leave; it’s just a line item and doesn’t cost you any more until they return. What it adds in value, self-worth and loyalty is considerable

"We do not need rhetoric, nor ranting, but real change” 

• Don't put off hiring the great guy, but if you find he is paid more than your best performer then just fix your staff members salary; lift it to match or exceed
• Set aside 0.5% of your annual remuneration budget for a pool to cover the cost of fixups, where pay parity is a problem
• Sort flexibility options in your office; it’s not just women who need this either – our millennials are hanging out to work from the apartment balcony or the coffee shop too