Everything You Need to Know about a Pay Equity Audit

We interviewed one of Sysarb’s Pay Equity Experts Åsa Windefelt about everything you need to know about a Pay Equity Audit.

In one sentence, what is a Pay Equity Audit?

A Pay Equity Audit is an annual review of the organization's salaries of both individual and group level.

‍ What is the Pay Equity Audit based on?

‍Pay Equity Audit is based on some extent of agreed collective agreements to which many organizations are bound, but also based on salary formation processes that govern salary setting. An organization that has develop a model for salary setting where clear salary criteria, based on performance and goal fulfillment, for example, should be a guide for setting the right salary for employees within a group.

What are the benefits of doing a Pay Equity Audit?

‍The employees in the organization benefit in a way that they get increase in their current salary level, which is also a proof that the job they have done during the past years have yielded results. As for the organization, the advantages of Pay Equity Audit may result in acquiring good structure in salary setting and the possibility to receive help during salary review. Working with continuous improvements in the payroll process can contribute to more equitable and equal pay.

What is the most important thing to keep in mind during the process?

‍The most important thing to keep in mind would be to ensure that the payroll process is transparent, which means that everyone in the organization must understand how the work is done. If the organization works with salary criteria, this must also be clearly communicated so that everyone knows how to influence their salary and thereby increase their understanding of the results of the salary review.

How can Sysarb help?

‍Sysarb has extensive experience of working with equal pay through a system support for pay equity audit. But we can also offer and support organizations through methodological support for the payroll process, where we can help review or develop e.g., a salary policy or salary criteria. We are also happy to help increase transparency around the payroll process by training managers, employees, and trade unions, either through our E-learning or on-site at the customer.