Equal Pay Diagnosis and Assessment

We diagnose your specific business structure and needs and ensure that your business receives true value for what your employees are paid.

We have the necessary expertise to ensure that all your employees, including executive directors, are treated equitably both internally and externally and in compliance with your legal obligations.

We are a law firm and all deliverables are strictly confidential and protected by legal privilege. You cannot be forced to share the results with anyone such as trade unions.

Employers need to know and understand how to eliminate ‘disproportionate income differentials’ as required by section 27 of the Employment Equity Act 1998. In other words it is necessary to ensure that all income differentials over your entire business are equitable and proportional.

Legally all employees have a right to be paid equally for work of equal value and this raises a number of questions:

• What do ‘work’ and ‘value’ really mean?
• What is meant by ‘equal’?
• Where to start?
• How to diagnose the problems?
• How to prove legal compliance?
• How to measure and create a proper framework?
• What measurement criteria to use?
• Can employees with the same work focus be paid up to 100% less?
• What is meant by differential, relative and comparative worth?
• What is meant by the ‘operational requirements’ of a business?

Managers face the following challenges:

• Proving that all employees are paid equally for work of equal value.
• Measuring and determining equitable remuneration.
• Eliminating all unfair discrimination.
• Ensuring legal compliance coupled with business sense.
• Changing polices and practices for genuine business reasons.

Examples:

• A business replaces an employee who retires after many years service. Must the new employee be paid the same as the former employee?  Is the work of equal value and does it warrant equal pay ?
• After realising that a long standing employee costs the business far more than other  employees doing similar work how to justify the necessary wage adjustments?
• What evidence or information is needed to prove that a promotion or a demotion was  not an “unfair labour practice” ?
• How does management defend claims from employees that they are not being paid ‘equally’ for ‘equal work’ ?
• Justifying the withdrawal of a ‘benefit’ as being a fair labour practice.
• Responding rationally to wage demands from trade unions.
• Producing rationally justifiable information during negotiations.
• Producing proper financial and other information when applying for exemption for bargain council agreements.
• How to respond to claims that executives are overpaid.

How can we help you?

We have help by:

• diagnosing your wages and job descriptions we will assess and analyse your current remuneration structure in the context of your organizational structure and report back.
• reporting to you and enabling you to identify possible instances of unfair discrimination,  more particularly those concerning unequal pay for work of equal value.
• enabling you to ensure legal compliance and minimise risks.
• providing you with indirect exclusive access to a superior scientific and proven method of diagnosing your business structure and remuneration policies.
• providing a customised framework for you to decide how much to pay all employees. This is much more than just job evaluation and shows you how to determine such matters yourself.
• assisting you to prove that all employees (including executives) are being paid equitably  – equal pay for work of equal value and fairly relative to all other employees.

Our diagnosis and assessment will:

• Provide clear insight into your business structure and remuneration practices
• Assist you in deciding what action, if any, you need to take

All we require is wage information and brief job descriptions. You can email it to us. We will ‘clean” the data if necessary.

How long does it take?

After we receive the information we will do the diagnosis and report back in about 5 days depending on the number of employees.

What we will deliver?

We will present our diagnosis and recommendations in a:

• Comprehensive written report
• Presentation, if so required

Who is this it for?

• Directors and owners
• Remuneration committee members
• Managers, not just those dealing with employee affairs
• Accountants
• All types of organizations – small to big – private and public

How you benefit

• Assurance that employees are paid equitably with the ‘feel fair factor’
• Ability to prove that you are treating employees equitability and fairly
• Assurance of equal pay for work of equal value
• Ability to determine income needed to fund remuneration
• Confirmation of the value exchange between your business and employees
• Elimination of unnecessary employee costs
• Assurance that there is no ‘wage gap’ between executives and employees
• Ability to reduce disputes and find solutions to employment issues
• Negotiate rationally with trade unions over wages and conditions.

How much does it cost?

We will provide you with an estimate before anything happens. Our fee generally depends on the number of employees and the time taken to do the diagnosis.