Margrét Vilborg Bjarnadóttir – Icelandic researcher living in the United States working hard at Pay Analytics to reduce wage gaps. What came to her as a research problem, is now an expanding business attacking the problem of unfair wages. And after this eye-opening talk with Margrét, it became clear that if you really want to fight pay gaps within your organization, you need to take a quantitative approach to it.
There is a lot of talk going on about fixing the wage gaps. Unfortunately, it still often stays on a discussion level. Strange? Maybe so, taking into account that it’s year 2020 and well-known that lifting people in an organization is an investment – not an actual cost. And guess where we usually find the root to the problem?
Regulations around wage gaps
Within the EU, laws and regulations around wage gaps differ between the countries; each country is taking a different approach. There are some countries that are not doing anything, while others are taking action. Margrét says that:
“Governmental Regulations that push employers to look at their employee and compensation data makes a huge difference and pushes change.”
And Iceland is really acting as role models when it comes to decreasing the pay gaps. Iceland was the first country to require each company to get an equal pay certification, which includes a requirement for salary analysis. Well done Iceland for addressing the issue, as well as giving us Margrét!
Analytical software to support salary decisions
The two brains behind Pay Analytics are professors Margrét herself and co-founder David Andersson, and they are both professors in the US. Margrét explains the software and says:
“A 4% pay gap between genders is typical if you have not been actively managing it, sometimes even higher. and that is the gap after we have accounted for all factors that should explain differences in wages, such as responsibilities and education. If the software measures a gap that cannot be explained by anything else than gender – we fix it, providing each organization with a detailed road map.
Today, Pay Analytics has over 30 subscribing organizations. And they are given something to actually take action on. Subscribers run salary analysis to 1) measure pay gaps and 2) to understand what adjustments the employers need to do to make things better, and 3) to see how much it’s going to cost the employer. She continues by saying:
”Basically, what we have done is building an HR analytical platform to support salary decisions. Both to close the gender pay gap, or any other demographic pay gap – but also to support decision making. We want to bring a good analytical tool to the HR department.”
Tech companies leading the way to decrease pay gaps
Looking across the Pay Analytics subscribers, the general trend is that tech companies have lower pay gaps compared to other industries. Margrét strongly believes that this has a connection to the competition for talent. She has noticed that where there is competition for talent, the pay gap tends to be smaller.
Very proud to have such an impactful member as Pay Analytics in the Epicenter Community! Make sure to reach out to Margrét (margret@payanalytics.is) if you want to learn more about their software. And of course if you want to reduce eventual wage gaps!
Attend lunch masterclass with Pay Analytics for International Womens Day!
To highlight International Womens Day March 8th, you’re invited to a lunch Masterclass with Margrét. Come and listen to Margrét talking about how her software is used to help drive pay equity! Make sure to sign up to the masterclass!
Attend masterclass with Pay Analytics.
Check out the Pay Analytics website here.
Read more Epicenter Members stories here.
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