One of the hurdles in the pursuit of equality in the workplace comes in the form of pay differences between men and women. For women, this can equate to making thousands of dollars less each year than their male counterparts. All businesses should takes steps to determine if there is a pay gap and ways to fix the problem if it exists.

Analyze Your Payroll

A gender pay gap may not be obvious within your business until you make the effort to analyze your payroll. Fortunately, there is pay gap analysis software available to make the process easier. Software programs will highlight issues when there is a difference in pay. Once you notice there is a problem, you can begin looking at specific instances to determine if there are other reasons for the difference in pay. For example, the software may flag people who have the same job title, but their difference in pay might be explained by their experience, seniority, or other reasonable differences between the employees.

Find Specific Hurdles

If you discover a gender pay gap, it is time to start pinpointing the exact problem. Some businesses may notice the gap exists at all or many levels of employment within their business, whereas others may only see issues in upper-level professions. When the wage gap seems to only affect upper-level employees, you should question your hiring and promotion tactics. The underlying issue may be gender bias in the hiring process or fewer qualified women receiving an appropriate promotion.

When the pay gap can be seen at many levels of employment, there may be a need for pay grades or other ways to have a standard system of pay based on the position. This would make it harder to inject bias into pay. Overtime, bonuses, and commission can create a pay gap since opportunities for these forms of compensation can be highly subjective. For example, only certain employees may be given the option for overtime or to work with a high-paying client that would land them a hefty commission.

Fix Issues At All Levels

Having a gender pay gap affects your business at all levels, even before people apply to your business. With more information available about businesses and their hiring practices, people may already know your business has discrepancies in pay, which can cause talented applicants to look elsewhere. How you recruit applicants can be another concern. You need recruiters and interviewers who act the same, no matter the applicant. If a recruiter acts abrasive or dismissive to women, it only makes sense there may be fewer women applying for job openings. Current employees should have safe ways to address their grievances about pay or promotions. If the environment is already uncomfortable, women are even less likely to ask for a raise or promotion than their male counterparts.

Addressing the gender pay gap starts with all businesses taking a candid look at their practices. Once a problem is identified, making changes in all aspects of your business is the only way to create equality.