Restoring Trust and Inclusion through Pay
The gender pay gap highlights the historical and ongoing devaluation of women and other under-represented groups in our society.
This topic is one all minority groups are very aware of, wary of and (honestly) weary of.
How is the Gender Pay Gap Impacting your Organisation’s Culture (and performance)?
Closing the pay gap is not just a moral imperative, but also an important step for increasing the trust, inclusion and belonging under-represented groups’ experience, in organisations.
Whilst the gap for women is reducing in Australia, the pace is glacial, in part because its contributing factors are what we commonly know as ‘wicked problems’.
Contributing Factors
Gender based pay segregation is founded on social norms and economic history, and has contributed to industry and role-based gender pay norms we experience today.
Until last year, women typically completed unpaid placements in nursing and education, whilst the historical male equivalent, trade apprencticeships, have always been paid, albeit at reduced rates to their fully fledged counterparts.
This structural history is further exacerbated by higher overtime and bonus payments in the traditionally male dominated industries, as well as in leadership positions and core business / ‘line’ roles such as sales.
What are the Quick Wins for addressing the Pay Equity Challenge?
As we approach this topic, it’s important to remember that it’s under-represented (or ‘diverse’) talent drives your organisation’s performance - not more people of the same traditional profile. But it’s not just about having diversity anywhere in your organisation, it’s about having it in every team at every level.
In most organisations, healthy levels of diversity do not reside in core business or leadership positions.
Attention to the following initiatives, will therefore promote a culture which improves the attraction and retention of under-represented talent in the right place and position, and support your organisation’s performance.
To enable everyone of any identity and intersectionality to participate at all levels and across all functions:
Promote flexibility and / or part time work arrangements.
This gives carers an opportunity participate in line / core business roles and progress into leadership.
Address everyday ‘isms’ such as sexism and racism to make your workplace safe, respectful and inclusive for everyone in every function and at every level.
Evaluate your traditional definitions of ‘performance’ and ‘leadership’, to identify what stereotypes and biases may be influencing higher and lower performance ratings, pay and promotions.
Traditional ‘high performance’ time based based assessments tend to disadvantage those with career gaps or carers’ responsibilities, and prevent their participation in ‘core business’ roles or progress in leadership roles.
‘Style based’ assessments typically impact those with more introverted or indirect communication styles.
Cultural minority groups whose cultural norms naturally reward ‘softer and more subtle’ styles, are therefore disproportionately penalised.
Women are particularly suffer in this context, as they are criticised for being too ‘mousey’ when they ask permission or apologise for tentatively expressing their opinion in meetings, but are then considered too ‘bossy’, when they don’t.
It’s considered disrespectful to use ‘confident’ and extroverted behaviour towards those with more ‘power and privilege’ - who are often in core business or leadership positions.
For example, there is a ‘likeability penalty’ when support functions such as finance or HR (which usually have more diverse teams than core business functions) approach sales (a function usually dominated by the historical majority), with confidence and candour.
Today’s Data Shines a Light on just some of the Story
Intersectionality plays a significant role in the gender pay gap and masks disadvantage faced by First Nations’, culturally diverse and gender non-binary people in particular.
Whilst the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is currently considering how to collect cultural demographic data to better understand the true picture of intersectional disadvantage in Australian workplaces, this is a complex task by virtue of the many variables.
In the light of the government’s recent reticence on the collection of LGBTQIA+ data in the 2026 census, regrettably, such decisions appear to be impacted as much by ‘political’ matters and election cycles as they are a desire to support under-represented groups to thrive and belong in Australian society.
What Works and What Doesn’t?
Reduced trust and exclusion rarely improve without a conscious intervention. Therefore, addressing gender and pay gaps requires a conscious commitment.
It’s also important those with the position to influence and remedy the situation are mindful of the sentiments their under-represented groups carry as a heavy burden every day.
In the minds of under-represented groups, they are asking for nothing more than ‘a fair go’. ie. the ability to have the same opportunities and pay as others.
It’s particularly poignant when you consider much of that same population pulls what’s commonly known as a ‘double shift’ from the effort of ‘covering’ at work, an emotionally exhausting task to ‘fit in’ every day. Which is often then followed by a ‘triple shift’ at home, doing the lion’s share of domestic duties, after work.
The Price of Ignoring the Pay Equity Penalty
When there is an absence of inclusion, diversity dies from the head and the heart.
When talent dies from the head, it walks away,
When it dies from the heart, it offers a portion of what it has to give.
Any organisation is unlikely to perform to its optimum, when there is such a clear and present reminder of a wedge between those with historical privilege and those doing the hard yards at work and at home. Under-represented groups desire only to have a chance to earn a decent living and be treated with dignity, for the important contributions they make at home, work and in society.
At I LEAD Consulting we’re on a mission to simplify Diversity and Inclusion for Leaders and Teams.