Equal pay for women and men

What is the situation of women in employment worldwide?

PwC's Global Equal Pay Compass summarises the legal landscape of equal pay around the world. Red indicates countries with specific legislation on equal pay, such as Switzerland, Australia, some US states, Spain and Norway. Orange indicates countries with general laws or no sanctions for non-compliance with women's employment and equal pay legislation, such as Poland, Russia, India and China. In yellow are countries where there are no laws in this area.

PwC Global Gender Pay Compass

What legal measures are currently in place to ensure equal pay?

Only Iceland meets and applies all legal aspects. All countries shown have a reporting obligation but selected legal measures are either not applied in the country or required only in certain cases.

Conducting and complying with legal requirements has an impact on equal pay

Case study Switzerland

• The legislation came into force on 1 July 2020 and covers corporations with more than 100 employees, which represents only 1% of employers in Switzerland but as much as 47% of all employees in the country
  

• This law expires in 11 years in 2032 - it is not entirely clear why

• It remains to be seen whether the introduction of these legal directives will contribute to closing the wage gap

• The analysis shows that the gender pay gap widened between 2014 and 2018 - the gap in average gender pay increased by 1% between 2014 (18.1%) and 2018 (19%)

• The pay gap for equivalent work also increased from 7.7% in 2014 to 8.6% in 2018

What have Swiss employers experienced?

• the obligation to introduce a definition of "Equivalent work"
  

• the need to collect relevant data not previously collected, e.g. staff education

• levelling the competitive advantage of equality and remuneration analysis

• making employers aware of wage discrimination - no specific guidance from government on what to do about it

Equal pay legislation - the Polish perspective

Polish Deal - a proposal for a remuneration structure:

• applies to large companies (usually companies with more than 250 employees)
  

• the employer must report the average wage level by gender

• the employer must justify the factors affecting the employee's current earnings

• there is a lack of detailed project assumptions

Best practices for companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange:

• publication of a report on measures taken to achieve gender-neutral wages
  

• publication of the gender pay gap index on the company website (by different employee groups)

• defining a time horizon for achieving gender-neutral wages 

• more diversity responsibilities within the company and on the board

• the law enters into force in July 2021

Regulation 2019/2088 on disclosure of information related to sustainability in the financial sector and the European Supervisory Authority's Guidelines

• Concerns financial advisors and other financial market participants. It will also indirectly affect companies whose shares are held by investment firms, investment funds and credit institutions
  

• an obligation to publish diligence policies, engagement policies, etc. on various environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, including gender pay gaps

•  the need to assess ESG metrics in companies whose assets they hold in their investment portfolio 

• entry into force on 1 January 2022

EBA guidelines on sound remuneration policies

• implementation of a gender-neutral remuneration policy 
  

• documentation and identification of posts of equivalent value

• periodic (at least once a year) assessment of gender pay gaps and, in the case of significant gaps, the need to document the reasons for these gaps and take appropriate action (guidelines)

• obligation to submit information on gender pay gap to the PFSA (every year) - obligation imposed under the Banking Law (by 31 January every year)

• entry into force on 28 April 2021

Benefits to the company of implementing equal pay:

• higher employee satisfaction
  

• a better employer brand image

• lower legal risks resulting from failure to comply with the equal pay obligation

• higher profitability and potentially higher customer spend

• greater diversity and development of a culture of inclusiveness

• improving business performance

• higher staff retention rate

• gaining public recognition for activities on socially relevant issues

Certification of equal pay - possible way to confirm commitment to equal pay

Source: PwC

In the Retail and FMCG sectors, we observe a great interest of companies in the subject of equal pay - not only in Poland, but also in other European countries. They treat this issue as an important element of employer branding, building social trust and attracting and retaining talent. The image of an organisation that pays men and women equally for equal work is very important in this industry due to the relatively high employment and employee turnover. In addition, companies in this industry often have a very well standardised HR system - in terms of "performance management", remuneration policy and promotions, which gives a good chance of passing the equal pay review and obtaining certification. But of course, it is also important how these policies are applied in practice.