[European Commission, Brussels, 11 January 2011] In its ‘Strategy for equality between women and men 2010-2015’, the European Commission commits to supporting initiatives in the workplace which aim to encourage equal pay, such as the development of tools for employers to close unjustified gender pay gaps.
These tools include instruments designed to help employers, managers and human resources personnel identify if a company has a pay gap between its male and female employees. Such tools have been developed in countries including Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The software calculates whether there is a gender pay gap and if this gender pay gap is due to objective factors (such as a person’s level of education or years of service) or factors that cannot be explained and which, for the most part, it can be assumed are caused by pay discrimination.
If inequalities are found, advice and support is available to companies to help them develop solutions to close the gap.
Both the German and Luxembourgish calculators build on a Swiss calculator which was developed in 2009 by the country’s Federal Office for Equality between Women and Men.
