Pay equality toolkit: Create an equal pay action plan

The purpose explains why equal pay is important to your business and why this action plan will assist in delivering that vision.

Example:

We believe all staff, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and care-giving status should receive equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. This action plan details how we will achieve specific targets to accomplish our goals towards equal pay.

 

The goal statement is a broad statement about a long-term desired commitment to equal pay that all targets in this action plan are leading towards. You may have more than one goal statement. If you have an equal pay policy, the goal statement can be one of the commitments you have indicated. See Create an equal pay policy for more information.

Example:

Our recruitment processes eliminate biases from job advertisements, selection processes and interviews through to the onboarding process.

Targets are the things you need to achieve in order to progress towards pay equality. You may like to align your targets to the domains in the pay equality framework. Targets can come from the findings of a pay audit or recommendations from an evaluation of your pay equality complaints procedure.

Example:

Create a capability matrix that we can use to eliminate bias from job descriptions.

Risks or barriers are factors that could potentially hinder the achievement of the target. If you can identify risks or barriers at the planning stage, you are more likely to be able to take action to avoid them.

Example:

Not all of our roles are covered by an award, which might make it difficult to create a capability matrix.

Indicate when you expect the target to be achieved and any other information about the timeline that might impact achievement of the target.

Example:

July 2024 (CEO will be on leave 1–15 June)

 

The strategies are the actions your organisation needs to take to achieve the target. These should be practical, actionable tasks.

Example:

• Determine how to create a capability matrix
• Create pay levels to establish comparable work

List the people, processes, finances, training and time that will be needed to complete the action.

Example:

• Capability Matrix <link>
• Current position descriptions

Name the person, role or team who will be responsible for ensuring the action is completed.

Example:

HR manager

It is important to revisit your action plan regularly to check on your progress towards your targets. This timing should link to your pay audits – for example, if you decide to conduct annual pay audits, then you should review your action plan (that will have targets related to the audit outcomes) quarterly. Often these checks will surface learnings that will affect the progress of other targets or strategies. Note the dates of the reviews and any lessons you can take away.

For example:

15 March 2024 – Strategy 1.3: Need to book a learning session to explain this so everyone is on the same page.