Many companies have audited their gender pay gap but failed to act on it, says Workplace Gender Equality Agency

More bosses are facing up to the reality that there is a pay gap between their male and female employees — but too many are “sweeping it under the carpet”, the head of the federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency says.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency director Libby Lyons. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

More bosses are facing up to the reality that there is a pay gap between their male and female employees, but too many are “sweeping it under the carpet”, the head of the federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency says.

Libby Lyons will deliver the agency's five-year report card today and will pledge to target companies which have audited their gender pay gap but failed to take action to close it.

The report card also shows more employers are offering flexible working options but, again, few are actively encouraging staff to change their hours or tracking how many are doing so.

Ms Lyons said this “action gap” revealed that organisations were “not making managers accountable” for tangible change in the workplace.

“Sometimes middle managers take the initiative to do a pay gap analysis and, when they see the results, they’re shocked and don’t know what to do with it,” she said.

“Instead of reporting it up the chain … they’re sweeping it under the carpet.

“But we know those organisations that actually report their pay gap up to the board and executives are three times more likely to take action.”

The report card analysed the circumstances of 4.1 million male and female workers around Australia.

Last financial year, 41.6 per cent of organisations covered by the report had analysed their workforce salaries to see if there was a gender gap.

However, 40 per cent of those never took action to address the difference.

The Advertiser’s #Engage4ChangeSA campaign is lobbying for tangible changes to improve the lives of South Australians.

Ms Lyons said her agency wanted to work with those employers to identify the causes of the gap and review decisions around how staff were recruited, trained, promoted and rewarded to close it.

Employers in mining, media and IT and finance were most likely to take action to address the pay gap, while retail bosses were least likely.

About 70 per cent of employers reported they had a policy on flexible work but only 5 per cent had set targets for staff taking up those options, and only 1.6 per cent had targets for male workers.

Women still make up the majority of part-time or casual employees across the workforce.

“That’s nonsense,” Ms Lyons said.

“We have to give men permission to be parents and carers and, quite frankly, look after themselves physically and mentally. Flexible work is one of the key drivers to getting gender balance in organisations.”

The report card identifies the transport, logistics, media and IT industries as most improved for flexible work options over the past five years.

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Originally published as Many companies have audited their gender pay gap but failed to act on it, says Workplace Gender Equality Agency