Pay Equity is required by law in certain jurisdictions. Failure to comply can have expensive consequences. This is an illustration of our process.
- You are required to produce a plan that is gender-neutral. Many management consulting firms have created their own model as a recurring revenue production model. The Pay Equity Commission has offered templates that can be customized to any size organization and this is what I employ.
- The Act does not prescribe that you have a committee consisting in part with non-management employees however the Commission encourages it. Many management consulting firms advocate for this as well, which produces a longer process and thereby costlier. I advocate in cases other than union plans, that a small group of management comprise the committee. This is legal and expeditious.
- Other management consulting firms encourage more elaborate job analysis advocating concurrently for a more thorough review and overhaul of job descriptions. I do not advocate for this relying on industry norms generally including job titles and ensuring job anomalies are properly highlighted and evaluated.
- The job evaluation process attempts to create objectivity- we are evaluating jobs and not people performing the jobs. It is an art form driven as much by the intended process as the motivations of those who are on the committee. The results can be very expensive both retroactively or on a go forward basis based on the committee results. My experience in the early stages of Pay Equity implementation showed public sector employees receiving very large adjustments, where private sector employers were able to contain the required number of adjustments. My involvement in the process ensures compliance with the legislation but works towards a minimization of impact to the firm.