Pay equality toolkit: Create an equal pay policy
Share your commitment to equal pay and meet your legal obligations with an equal pay policy. This policy tool will help you to describe how equal pay aligns with your organisation’s values and outline what equal pay looks like in practice for your business.
Why does my business need an equal pay policy?
Under Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act 2010, employers have a positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible.
An equal pay policy increases your compliance with the law by detailing your commitment to ensuring employees are paid fairly and equally for their work. Equal pay policies benefit all employees regardless of their gender, race, age, or other characteristics and help eliminate wage disparities and discrimination within the workplace.
How can I create an equal pay policy?
Your equal pay policy should reflect the specific needs, circumstances and goals of your business and addresses your obligations as an employer. Include your employees in the process of developing this policy to generate workplace awareness and show the organisational commitment to change.
An effective equal pay policy:
- is a practical guide for all staff on employee rights, and managerial obligations in achieving and maintaining equal pay
- clearly identifies your organisation’s legal obligations towards equal pay
- is supported by a complaint resolution procedure that details how your organisation will respond when issues arise
- explains the consequences for a breach of the policy.
Create an equal pay policy in the same way you create any policy for your organisation.
What should be included in an equal pay policy?
Your policy should include a clear purpose and scope, outline your organisation’s legal obligations, state your policy commitments, describe the process for resolving issues, and discuss responsibilities, other relevant policies and how it will be communicated.
Download the equal pay policy template and checklist to ensure your equal pay policy includes the elements that allows for ease of use and implementation.
Who needs to know about this policy?
Everyone in your organisation should be aware of your equal pay policy. Consider how you will do this – for example, you could share it with all staff over email, make it available on the intranet or discuss in team meetings. You may choose to assess how aware employees are of the policy and how they’ve engaged with it in an annual survey or team discussion. This can help identify whether your policy may need changes and how your organisation is tracking towards achieving your commitments and purpose. At the very least managers and team leaders should have regular engagement with this policy to ensure they are up to date with your organisation’s equal pay practices.
