There’s something different about this year’s EEO-1 reports. For the first time in US history, companies with 100 or more employees must report total wages paid and hours worked for each occupational category by gender, and race/ethnicity.

For many employers across the US, the updated EEO-1 reports will reveal a concerning trend: the existence of a gender pay gap. If you find yourself in this situation, you’re not alone. Here are the actions you can take if you uncover a pay gap within your organization.  

What Actions Can Employers Take to Address Their Pay Gaps?

Here are immediate steps employers can take to propel positive change within their organizations:

1. Close Your Pay Gap, Then Keep it Closed
2. Increase Representation
3. Be Proactive in Communication Efforts

1. Close your pay gap, then keep it closed: Closing your company’s gender pay gap starts with collecting data to determine who is receiving inequitable pay and how it happened. Conducting a thorough analysis of employee compensation helps your company uncover the varying factors that are contributing to internal pay gaps. 

Approximately 97% of occupations have a gender wage gap. A key step to closing the gap includes eliminating questions pertaining to previous salaries from previous employers. In fact, with 17 state-wide and 19 local laws banning the salary history question, employers would be wise to retire the salary history question once and for all. 

2. Increase representation:  In a survey conducted by Rocio Lenzo and Martin Reeves of the Boston Consulting Group, 1,700 companies across eight countries were examined, focusing on diversity within management positions in respect to gender, age, national origin, industry background and education. 

Perhaps most important, they found the most diverse enterprises were also the most innovative, taking into account the average of the six dimensions of diversity studied—migration, industry, career path, gender, education and age. According to the study, all six dimensions of diversity had statistically significant correlations with innovation.

Based on these findings, a broad-based approach to diversity, one that values multiple aspects of diversity, proved most beneficial to innovation. 

Increasing diversity within your organization is beneficial on numerous fronts, providing financial gain and product innovation. 

3. Be proactive in communication efforts:  Discovering a pay gap may feel threatening. Being transparent will highlight your company’s integrity and image can help you get ahead of any potential issues. 

The Gender Pay Gap: Takeaway Problems

1. Pay gaps turn away existing and future talent. This does not bode well when the US is expected to face a labor force shortage of 5 million workers by 2020. 
2. Pay gaps cause organizations to miss out on the financial benefits of gender equity. Pipeline’s original research showed that for every 10% in gender equity toward parity, businesses experience a 1-2% increase in revenue. 
3. Potential PR trouble: Stay aware of news surrounding gender parity and proactively communicate your efforts. 

How Does Pipeline™ Help Employers?

Pipeline™ provides actionable steps to close gender pay gaps once and for all. Closing it once via a pay equity study can not and will not solve the problem in the long-term. Companies need to proactively ensure every pay decision is equitable—before the decision is made. Scale matters. Sustainability matters. 

Pipeline™ uses artificial intelligence (AI) to operationalize gender equity while simultaneously boosting companies’ financial outcomes. When a performance review, promotion or salary decision is required, Pipeline’s platform analyzes a company’s data and then makes quantifiable and tangible recommendations to move companies toward gender equity—and help them realize the economic benefits—with every human capital decision.

Gender equity is more than a social issue—it is a massive, $12T economic opportunity—an opportunity that Pipeline™ can catapult. 

The Proof is in the Data

For companies looking to close their gender pay gaps and achieve gender equity in their workplaces, Pipeline™ is here to support and sustain those efforts. The question is no longer whether or not we can close the gender equity gap—it’s whether or not we choose to close it. 

Ready to move the needle on gender equity? Schedule a platform demo to see first-hand how Pipeline™ helps companies reach their highest earning potential through gender equity. 

Let’s talk. Schedule a demo now.

© 2019 Pipeline Equity, Inc.