How one company has successfully closed its gender pay gap

Philip Morris Australia has become the first company to receive equal salary certification in the country and hopes other companies will follow suit, according to its managing director, Tammy Chan.

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Philip Morris International has become the first multinational company to receive equal salary certification and hopes other companies will follow suit, according to Australian managing director, Tammy Chan.

Philip Morris Australia Managing Director Tammy Chan: “As I was preparing to move to Australia 18 months ago, I was handed a set of statistics about the world of business. One of the points, about halfway down the sheet, immediately stood out: men and women don’t get equal pay for equal work.

In fact, the discrepancy was around 14 per cent, after hovering to up to 19 per cent over the last two decades. According to the World Economic Forum, it will take an astonishing 202 years to close the gender pay gap around the world.

That is not good enough. Men and women deserve equal pay for equal work and they deserve it now.

At Philip Morris International, we have always prided ourselves on giving equal opportunities to men and women, and as a female leader with more than 20 years in this company, this has very much been my experience.

But could we say, hand on heart, that we were giving equal pay for equal work across genders?

The answer, following a rigorous independent analysis, is yes.

This analysis revealed just a 0.9 per cent difference between what female PML employees are paid compared to males, significantly less than the 14 per cent nation-wide average.

As of March 2019, Philip Morris International was the first multinational to receive the global EQUAL-SALARY certification.

This certification was awarded by the independent Switzerland-based EQUAL-SALARY Foundation, placing us in illustrious company with companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Switzerland and the World Economic Forum.

The certification was only awarded after an extensive process in which PwC – the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation’s auditor – undertook a rigorous statistical analysis of staff salaries worldwide, interviewed management on their commitment to gender equality, conducted focus groups with staff, and reviewed internal HR policies for bias. From start to finish, this comprehensive process took some 18 months.

The EQUAL-SALARY certification means our 77,000 employees operating in 180 markets around the world are paid equally for equal work, irrespective of their gender.

To date, we are the only company with the global certification. More recently, we have been awarded the same certification for Philip Morris Australia, making us the first Australian organisation to achieve it.

This acknowledgement comes just months after Philip Morris Australia received the federal government’s Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation for a fourth successive year.

The pay gap is just one aspect of gender equality, and at PMI we’re also determined to close the gender gap in management.

Our goal is to have 40 per cent of management roles at PMI filled by women by 2022. Right now, that figure is 35 per cent – up from 29 per cent in 2014. On current progress, we are on track to meet this goal.

Forty four per cent of our Australian workforce are female, including myself as Managing Director, a female Senior Legal Counsel and a female Director of People and Culture among the many people leading our organisation to a bold future.

It is one thing for an organisation to jump on a progressive movement with a flashy social media post and a catchy hashtag, but another to genuinely implement it.

Personally and professionally, I am proud to work for a company that recognises equal work with equal pay.

As a female leader and a mother of a young girl, I am determined to do my bit in making Philip Morris a destination of choice for the next generation of aspirational young women and I can only hope more organisations follow our lead in challenging the glass ceiling.”

Interested in pursuing a career with an EQUAL SALARY certified company? Visit https://www.pmi.com/careers/overview for more info.

Originally published as How one company has successfully closed its gender pay gap