Public sector pay gap released for the first time

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has published the first ever gender pay gap data for Commonwealth public sector employers which includes the likes of the ABC, Australia Post and the Australian Federal Police. It shows that for every dollar men earn in the public sector women earn 94 cents.

Transcript

00:00When you look at the gender pay gap, which is the average remuneration of men and women

00:07and the difference between the two, it's 6.4% at the federal public sector. The comparator

00:15in the private sector is 21.1%, so substantially different. Now, of course, any aggregate hides

00:23some detail underneath it, but what that shows is consistently federal public sector agencies

00:29are performing well, although there is a range, of course.

00:32Okay. So what are the actions which have been effective in the public sector which would

00:36make a difference for private sector employees?

00:39Well, I think there's been a concerted effort over an extended period of time, identifying

00:45equality and fairness in the workplace as a priority. And there's an expectation of Commonwealth

00:53agencies that they have a strategy to address gender equality, that it's led by the CEO or

00:58the secretary of the agency. There's plans in place, there's resources committed and there's

01:03oversight and analysis to see the impact that's being achieved through the work that's happening.

01:10And that's certainly what we recommend is what needs to happen. It needs to have the leadership

01:15from the top, but throughout the organisation and a genuine commitment to drive change.

01:20And the solutions aren't the same in whether it's public sector or private sector. In any employer,

01:26there's different solutions, but you have to do the work and it has to have that commitment

01:30to get the outcomes that we're seeking.

01:32So the gap may be smaller in the public sector, Mary, but it's still there. Are you confident

01:36that public employers are trying to achieve parity? And when might they do that?

01:42Well, I think the journey and the reductions that we're seeing over time are very positive in relation

01:49to that. And I think there's been a clear articulation from the government of a commitment for public

01:54sector agencies to have a focus on this. And that's translating through to action at the employer level.

02:01I couldn't say, you know, we want to accelerate change. That's part of what publishing gender pay

02:06gaps, which is what we're doing for the first time today for the public sector, brings transparency

02:11in accountability to speed up that rate of change. And it's very hard to pick an end date, but the sooner

02:18the better. Now, it's the first time that pay gap data for the public sector has been published.

02:24Why has it taken until now to do that? So we've published the private sector twice,

02:32and it's just a quirk of the legislation and the timing of reporting for the Commonwealth public sector.

02:38That means this is the first opportunity we've had to publish the gender pay gaps.

02:43But from here, we'll be publishing each and every year and publishing that information

02:48on the data explorer on the WGIA website so that all employees and the broader community can see

02:55how these public sector agencies, along with private sector counterparts, are performing.

03:01And that work will go on from year to year. So not only can we see the absolute result,

03:05but the improvements and the progress over time. So what more needs to be done then to improve

03:11better balance in the workplace, in the public sector then, Mary? What's the data saying to you?

03:16Well, one of the key areas where there's a difference that's driving part of the gender pay gap

03:23is the difference between base salary and discretionary payments. So things like overtime and bonuses.

03:30And it's those discretionary payments that are quite a substantial driver of the gender pay gap.

03:36So agencies that have those gaps need to be asking the question and doing the analysis.

03:42Why are men accessing those discretionary payments more than women are? What's the limiting factors?

03:49And can things be done to address that? Now, partly with overtime, it's additional hours and people might

03:55not have the opportunity to put their hand up for them. But it is doing that analysis and working

04:00through what could be done differently so that men and women can equally access the opportunity to

04:08have higher remuneration through the process. We also do see there's still some differences in the

04:14proportion of women in the workforce and how that's reflected at the most senior levels. So we definitely

04:20have better results in the Commonwealth public sector than the private sector, but there's still a gap

04:24between that proportional representation at the most senior levels that needs to continue to be worked on.

Category

Transcript

Recommended