While the gender pay gap is reducing in Australia’s private sector, the average pay for women is currently 21% less than for men. BETA worked with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) to create an Action Planning Tool that supports organisations to reduce their gender pay gap. Our report, A Tool for Action, assesses the effectiveness of the Tool in building confidence, lifting knowledge and supporting organisations to take action. The findings are based on a survey of organisations using the tool and interviews with both organisations and WGEA staff.
What is the gender pay gap Action Planning Tool?
The Action Planning Tool is an online tool that uses organisational data to identify gender pay gap “hot spots” and provide a targeted action plan specific to the organisation.
The Action Planning Tool built the confidence of organisations to take action and increased knowledge of effective actions
Three quarters of the organisations (77%) that used the Tool said their confidence had increased and they learnt new ways to reduce their organisation’s gender pay gap.
Organisations had good intentions but many didn’t take action
BETA found an intention-action gap. Although the organisations interviewed found the Action Planning Tool helpful in identifying actions to close their gender pay gap, many had not implemented the recommended actions within 6 months of using the Tool. The organisations we interviewed were undertaking existing actions to address their gender pay gaps, and commented that the actions recommended by the Tool were helping to inform planning for future activities. Therefore, it might be too early to fully appreciate the impact of the Tool.
The new gender equality targets, which were legislated after we conducted this research, may incentivise organisations to take further action.
Improvements to increase completion rates and broaden access
While user experience was positive, BETA identified improvements to the Action Planning Tool to increase completion rates and broaden access. The impact of the Tool would be increased with improved functionality including by reducing the amount of information that organisations are required to input. The Tool could also be promoted more broadly through existing communication channels and integration with other WGEA offerings.