BusinessFIT - Charles Henzi:EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK
2016-05-26
Equal pay for equal work has, since the beginning of compensating people for undertaking tasks on behalf of others, been a generally accepted principle founded upon the notion of Fairness. Employers of people would claim that they are indeed paying ‘a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work’.
The question is: What is fair? Is it simply a notion, a ‘gut feel’ or can fairness be demonstrated in some factual manner? How do we convince an employee that he/she is fairly paid relative to colleagues; how do we go about defending our employment practices in the event of a formally lodged grievance in such regard?
The Amendment to the Employment Equity Act, introduced a year ago, compels employers to address Fairness substantively. How does an employer go about this? DRG Outsourcing, in enabling our Clients to answer this question, helps them to implement the following formal approach:
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Establishment of job grades by means of a proven and widely used Job Evaluation instrument
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Establishment of a Remuneration Structure founded upon Job Grades and best-practice
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Discovery of pay anomalies arising out of individual and employee category pay level comparisons with indicated pay levels defined by the Remuneration Structure
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Formulating a time-based plan to resolve such anomalies
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Establishing formal Policies and Procedures to guide and govern employee pay practices
Job Grades are essential in addressing Equal Pay for Equal Work i.e. Internal Equity
Job Grades are indispensable in making pay comparisons for similar jobs in the marketplace i.e. External Equity … enterprise capacity for attracting and retaining Talent!
For a more expansive insight into this subject please see the article authored by DRG Outsourcing in the most recent version of KZN Business Sense or contact Charles Henzi: charles@drg.co.za 031 767 0625/ 083 285 9195