genderpay
Nomsa Mojapelo
Career News Jan 17, 2018 0

The Gender Pay Gap Debate Beyond 2017

When the South African branch of a global car distributor tweeted last year in September that women earn 27% less than men, it sparked another viral debate on the already hot topic of gender pay gap, which shows no signs of slowing down in 2018.

Stats SA: South African women earn 23% less than men

A 2017 research named Pulse of the People, conducted in April and May by market research firm Ipsos in South Africa revealed that women are paid a quarter less than their counterparts. The research was carried on over 3500 random employed people nationwide.

Women earn about 73% of what men earn on average, noted the report, a conclusion adopted by the said dealership, which prompted further investigation into the matter by Africa Check, published by Business Report.

The figures are similar with the findings of the labour statistics at Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and its Quarterly Labour Force Surveys, which capture and analyse earnings data from 30.000 active households across the country.

Based on the data compiled by Stats SA, women earned 23% less than men, with the specification that average incomes tend to be considerably higher than median incomes, which may explain reported differences in various statistics.

How can the gender pay gap be addressed by HR and preferably minimises across most industries? A new HR regulation in Britain proposes a mandatory reporting action that could be a starting point to mobilise organisations.

New HR regulations in Britain to address gender pay gap

According to an article published by The Telegraph, it was reported many of Britain’s major organisations pay women employees less than half the remuneration of their male colleagues.

New UK HR regulations prompt employers with more than 250 staff members to file mandatory reports about their gender pay gap in the organisation before the April 2018 deadline. Smaller businesses are also encouraged to do so.

The move was introduced to assist companies in redressing remuneration inequality in the workplace. The companies will need to calculate and disclose the difference in average earnings for men and women, which adds more administrative duties to the HR department.

However, this issue can be successfully mitigated by having technology in place to process pay figures and calculate any gaps and making sure HR can rely on a sound reporting functionality.

Technology could be an active component of the race against deepening pay gender gap through automation and intelligent data analytics, enabling HR and payroll staff to analyse, understand, and report pay imbalances in salary payments.

Professional Sourcing is a top-tier South African-based recruitment agency operating internationally, IPM accredited, LEVEL 2 BEE RATED and 51% Black Owned.

Our agency specialises in professional placements (senior and specialist talent) and exclusive skills recruitment to a wide range of industries, including JSE’s top 100 companies, SMEs and the Public Sector.

Our agency specialises in professional placements (senior and specialist talent) and exclusive skills recruitment to a wide range of industries, including JSE’s top 100 companies, SMEs and the Public Sector. -- Patricia Jacobs

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