Labor News / Equality Tool
28/04/2022
Labor News / Equality Tool
Flash informativos
OFFICIAL JOB EVALUATION TOOL
to identify pay differentials between women and men
In order to have a Gender Equality Plan in the companies that are obliged to do so, which are currently the majority (those with more than 50 male and female employees), a prior diagnosis of the situation must be carried out. This diagnosis, which must be negotiated with the social partners, includes a very important item: the salary audit (as regulated by Royal Decree 902/2020 of October 13, 2020). In any case, the salary audit must not relegate other essential obligations in this area to a secondary level, such as having a salary register, an obligation that was established by Royal Decree-Law 6/2019.
Royal Decree 902/2020 also established that, in order to be able to carry out the salary audit, the company must first have a "Job Evaluation". In other words, in order to carry out this audit, it is necessary to know "which jobs have the same value", and which, therefore, must be paid equally, regardless of the sex of the employee who performs them, and only in this way, they will be comparable in the audit.
Regarding "job evaluation", Royal Decree 902/2020 established that the public authorities had the obligation to "guarantee the effectiveness of the principle of equal pay for work that is not only equal, but of equal value", and it is precisely for this aspect that the tool published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy (Second Vice-Presidency of the Government) is to be used.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JOB EVALUATION TOOL
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How does the tool work? |
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This is an Excel file that, if completed by the company, generates a total score for each job by adding the scores assigned to each factor by the corresponding weights. |
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What factors does it take into account? |
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The tool offers a catalogue of factors to be assessed in each position. These factors are grouped into four types: (i) knowledge and skills, (ii) degree of responsibility, (iii) effort and (iv) working conditions. Examples of factors are the following: creativity (knowledge and skills), computer skills (knowledge and skills), posture (pertaining to effort), or the existence of travel (working conditions). In any case, the company can modify the tool factors. In other words, it is not a closed list. Logically, not all factors have the same weight with respect to the total score. According to an ILO Guide, the weights to be assigned to each type of factor should be within the following ranges:
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The importance of this new tool lies in the fact that it has been agreed within the framework of a social dialogue round table, in which the Directorate General of Labor, the Women's Institute, the trade union organizations CC.OO. and UGT, and the business organizations CEOE and CEPYME have participated. In this way, its use will speed up the process of negotiating equality plans in terms of time and costs.
