Equality Plan: end of term. Job Valuation and Remuneration Audit.
On 7 March 2022, the deadline for having the Equality Plans negotiated and registered ended, which is mandatory for all companies with 50 or more workers.
The Ministry, through the Labour Inspectorate (ITSS), has carried out pedagogy during 2021 and has already become serious, with a significant volume of sanctions during 2022, for companies to comply with the obligation to negotiate and register their Equality Plan (RD 901/2020).
The evaluation of jobs in equality plans
The application of the principle of remuneration transparency in companies, required by the Equality Plans, is materialised in three instruments:
- the remuneration register (Articles 5 and 6), which is mandatory for all companies, regardless of the number of employees they have.
- job evaluation (Articles 4.4 and 8.2)
- the remuneration audit (articles 7).
Evaluating jobs involves making an evaluation of each job based exclusively on objective conditions that have to do with its performance, regardless of the personal variables of the person who performs it (ILO).
Its ultimate purpose is to determine that there is equal pay for work of equal value.
The result of the assessment will provide an overall score of all the factors that concur or may concur in a job. Each factor must be necessarily and strictly linked to the development of the work activity and be considered objectively.
The assessment must refer to each of the tasks and functions of each job in the company, offer confidence regarding its results and be appropriate to the sector of activity, type of organization of the company and other characteristics that may be significant.
Basic requirements for job evaluation
The usual procedure consists of determining each job present in the company’s workforce and evaluating each factor included in the tool to be used based on a scale. Based on this evaluation, the tool used must automatically offer a numerical score, which will reflect the value of each position and will make groupings of jobs of equal value.
Our job evaluation methodology is aligned with the requirements demanded by the standard and the new user guide published by the Ministry of Labor in April 2022, but also offers additional advantages:
- It is successfully tested; It has been in existence for almost 20 years, having been applied to all types of organizations and sectors.
- Evaluate the job from different perspectives. The factors that make them up, which are common to all positions.
- In turn, the levels into which each factor is divided are adapted according to a previously assigned contribution band and are based on a neutral position, identified using a standard methodology in all organizations.
- As a result of this process, a total score is obtained from the sum of the main factors.
- It makes a numerical assessment of the position by points and factors, guaranteeing the comparability of positions within the organization.
- The calculation of the final score is carried out through a tool that does not allow the arbitrary modification of weights and weightings of the factors.
- It uses an analytical system that evaluates the relative importance of jobs in a systematic way.
- It uses universal terminology that is neutral to cultural differences, in such a way that it creates a common language when evaluating and comparing positions within the same organization.
The remuneration audit will consist of two elements, the diagnosis of the remuneration situation and an action plan for the correction of pay inequalities:
1. Remuneration diagnosis report
The analysis described must be included in a report that will serve as the basis for the establishment of the action plan for the correction of the pay inequalities detected. These results are required to be reflected in detail for each of the sections analysed with quantitative identification, identifying the inequalities, differences, disadvantages, difficulties and obstacles existing or that may exist in the company, concluding whether they may constitute direct or indirect discrimination.
The preparation of these conclusions will therefore require:
- To determine whether or not the salary differences detected between positions of equal value are justified on the basis of reasonableness criteria.
- Identify the areas in which intervention should be carried out from a gender perspective (e.g. remuneration not subject to collective regulation, unequal incidence of bonuses and supplements due to occupational segregation, use of subjective criteria for the granting of non-salary benefits, promotion criteria that generate inequalities between women and men, differences in access to training, among others).
This report is not a closed document, but is subject to modifications resulting from the analysis and rectifications of the negotiating committee.
2. Action plan for the correction of pay inequalities
Based on the conclusions of the remuneration diagnosis, the Action Plan is defined to correct the possible inequalities detected, which must include measures defined with the same content as that required for the measures of the Equality Plan, in terms of: general and specific objectives, description of the measures, execution deadlines and indicators of compliance with them, identification of the means and resources and calendar of actions for implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
The Action Plan is considered as a specific document differentiated from the measures agreed in the Equality Plan, but it could be considered whether, due to systematics, the measures of the Action Plan could be incorporated as measures agreed in the section on Remuneration, as has been the usual practice to date, also admitted by the REGCON.
For some years now, at Psicotec (in collaboration with Gestolasa) we have been collaborating with a multitude of companies in order to comply with the legal obligation on the implementation of an Equality and Equal Pay Plan.
Example of implementation of an Equality and Equal Pay Plan
Group of companies in the industrial services sector made up of different companies, state-wide and with more than 4,000 workers, where we participate in comprehensive advice for the preparation of the Equality and Equal Pay Plan:
- Negotiation and preparation of the Equality Plan, with accompaniment in all meetings with the RLT and/or with the federations of the attached agreements.
- Preparation of the diagnosis in matters of equality.
- Remuneration Register, through a web data analysis tool and following the recommendations of the Women’s Institute.
- Description and evaluation of positions for grouping of positions of equal value.
- Remuneration Audit, preparing its report and corresponding improvement actions.
- Development and negotiation of measures taken to achieve equality between men and women that eliminate stereotypes and promote the value of equality in all areas.
- Development of the Protocol for the prevention and action against sexual harassment and harassment based on sex.
- Advice on the registration of the Equality Plan in the REGCON.
Do you need to implement an Equality Plan for your company? We can help you
Psicotec, from its Consulting & Transformation business line, leads important projects in the field of Equality. If your organisation needs advice on Equality Plans, Job Description or Evaluation, do not hesitate to contact us.