Dive Brief:
- Possibly feeling the pressure of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, 48% of companies in a new survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas report that they're reviewing their compensation polices to assure pay equity.
- In the poll of 150 HR executives at U.S. companies, 17% said they aren't assessing their policies, while 28% said they're already paying women and men equal wages.
- Salary transparency may be key for companies working toward pay equity, said Andrew Challenger, a VP for the firm, in a statement. But if that's not an available avenue, employers can create cultures that value pay parity in other ways, including regularly reviewing job descriptions, making pay parity a priority on the Board and C-Suite level, or engaging a third party to analyze compensation structures, he said.
Dive Insight:
Pay equity and transparency are major efforts that, for some employers will require some massive overhauls and, potentially, culture shifts. Equality and fairness must be central to an organization's culture to eliminate wage disparities, as Challenger notes. And HR can lead that charge.
Outside forces are at work, too. As state and local governments continue to outlaw questions about applicants' past pay, employers are being forced to discuss salary expectations earlier in the hiring process, set pay ranges for positions and rely more on market data.
And while pay transparency may not work for every business, employers may do well to at least examine how pay is perceived within their organizations.
