“Equal work, equal pay”. Is this principle respected in your company? According to the latest data from INSEE, women earn on average 28.5% less than men. Part of this pay gap is explained by disparities in working time, part-time positions (chosen or taken) being mostly occupied by women: in 2019, nearly 30% of women are employed part-time, compared to around 8% of men *.
If the measurement is carried out in full-time equivalent, that is to say for the same volume of work, the pay gap remains 16.8%. This is partly explained by structural elements linked to the professional sector, the level of qualification and the job held: unskilled jobs are mostly occupied by women, who overinvest in certain sectors such as personal assistance or social professions, and on the contrary are abandoning engineering sectors such as automotive, energy and aeronautics. By integrating these different factors to measure the pay gap with comparable professional characteristics, it stands at around 8%. This “real” difference of 8% remains unexplained.
Declared a “great national cause” for the five-year term, professional equality between women and men involves equal pay. In this sense, the government has put in place an innovative tool intended to reduce these persistent wage inequalities in the medium term: the gender equality index.
What is the Gender Equality Index?
Established by the law of September 5, 2018 “for the freedom to choose one’s professional future”, this index measures compliance with the principle of equal pay between women and men in companies. If your company has at least 50 employees, it has the obligation to publish, on March 1 of each year, a score (out of 100 points) calculated from various indicators. The objective is to measure and compare, for women and for men:
- average salaries, at comparable position and age;
- individual salary increases;
- promotion rates (crossing at level or at a higher hierarchical coefficient).
The company must also assess whether it complies with legal obligation to increase the wages of women upon returning from maternity leave. Finally, companies with more than 250 employees must indicate the number of women and men among the 10 highest paid.
For each indicator, the company obtains a certain number of points according to its performance. To be in order, the final mark must be 75 points out of 100 at least. Please note: if your company belongs to an economic and social unit (UES), there is specific rules concerning the calculation and publication of the index.
>> Are you looking to develop professionally, do you want to retrain? Capital and its partner Topformation are launching the first virtual exhibition dedicated to the personal training account (CPF). We look forward to seeing you on March 18 and 19 to answer all your questions! You can already register by following this link.
How do I know the results of my business?
The final score of each company must be published on its website no later than March 1 of each year. If your company does not have a website, the note must be brought to your attention by any means: e-mail, internal note, posting, etc. The company must also communicate its result to the CSE and the labor inspectorate.
New in 2021: the Ministry of Labor announced in a Press release that companies with more than 250 employees will see their results published on the ministry’s website. Until now, this advertisement has only concerned companies with more than 1,000 employees.
A company that does not publish the overall score of the Gender Equality Index is exposed, after formal notice to the labor inspectorate, to financial penalties of which the rate may reach 1% of remuneration and earnings. paid to employees during periods in which the company does not meet its obligations.
Note: the finance law for 2021 provides for requiring companies that have benefited from credits opened under the “recovery plan” to publish the result obtained for each indicator on the website of the Ministry of Labor, in accordance with procedures which will be defined by decree.
What is the risk of a company that obtains a “bad rating”?
If a company obtains a score of less than 75 points out of 100, it has the obligation to put in place corrective measures within three years to reduce the discrepancies and reach this minimum score, under penalty of being applied a financial penalty. up to 1% of payroll.
Companies which calculated their index for the first time in 2019 and which obtained an insufficient result will therefore have to reach a minimum score of 75 out of 100 on March 1, 2022, otherwise financial penalties will be applied. It is therefore now an obligation of result that weighs on the employer, who must achieve a certain level of success in taking into account the principle of equal pay, under penalty of being subject to a heavy financial penalty.
>> Our service – Are you looking for a job or want to change? Find thousands of offers on our site
A promising but perfectible tool
In addition to financial penalties, it is the image and reputation of companies that are affected by the publication of the Index. This transparency obligation will undoubtedly have a positive effect on the progress of companies towards an objective of equal pay. Analysis of 2020 results shows an increase in the average score obtained by companies: +4 points for companies with more than 1,000 employees, and +3 points for companies between 250 and 1,000 employees.
However, the index is the subject of criticism, particularly related to the calculation methods used. On the one hand, the indicator linked to pay gaps is calculated on the basis of full-time equivalent salaries, thus “erasing” part-time jobs, which are over-represented among women. On the other hand, the indicators related to the rate of increase and promotion do not take into account the amount of increases, thus allowing a company that would increase as many men as women while granting a higher sum to men of get full points.
In one January 2021 report, Terra Nova suggests adding to the index an indicator to calculate the share of women in the lowest wages, in order to have a specific vision of this segment of the salaried population, which would complement that targeting the situation of women. among the highest paid. Second line of development proposed by the association: add a 10-point bonus for companies in which the average number of part-time women is significantly lower than the sector average, in order to better take into account the differences in working time. work between women and men. Finally, for greater transparency, Terra Nova recommends that employees be informed of the details of the calculations of the various indicators, and not just the overall score as is the case today.
–
