Have you started working on the gender equality statement for 2021?
Many are already well underway with everything that is to be made and quality assured for the financial year 2021. Do not forget the gender equality statement! Your annual report must also include information about this statement. The statement must, among other things, contain the results from the statutory salary mapping you are to perform. Here are some tip to help you get started.
Who, what and when?
All public and private enterprises with at least 50 employees must write and publish a gender equality statement for each financial year. The same applies to companies with between 20 and 50 employees if the employer, employees, or the trade union so require.
The gender equality statement must contain
- the results from the statutory wage mapping
- a description of the company's statutory equality and discrimination work throughout the financial year (read more about what this means here)
The gender equality statement must either be part of the annual report, or it must be published on the company's website no later than 1 July.
A gender equality policy simplifies the reporting
The experience from last year is that it was difficult for many to write a concise and precise gender equality statement. Our experience is that the writing job will be easier, the quality of the statement will be better and the statutory work with gender equality and discrimination will be easier if the company has a gender equality policy. This policy should specify the company's objectives, guidelines and principles for equality and non-discrimination.
Divide roles and responsibilities
All companies should clearly define where the responsibility for equality and discrimination work lies, and which roles and people are part of this work. This will probably vary with the size and organization of the business.
Our experience is that the responsibility is often placed in the HR / administration. The team normally consists of at least two people - one who retrieves the necessary data, and the salary survey reports, and one who leads and is responsible for the work to be done and produced in the equality and discrimination area. Do not forget that the employees' representatives must also be involved in the ongoing work, in the organization of the salary mapping, and also preferably in the final sprint of the annual writing work.
Establish routines for ongoing documentation
The work on equality and anti-discrimination must be documented. It should be done continuously and not as a one-time job in connection with the annual report. Ongoing documentation ensures that the company can substantiate the assessments made along the way, prevent discrepancies and it normally also increases the efficiency of writing the annual gender equality statement.
Don’t forget privacy
The results from the statutory wage mapping shall be published in the annual gender equality statement. It is important to remember the topic of privacy. Hence, the company must consider how the results can be reported without revealing personal information. For example, the results shall not be published per job level if there are fewer than five employees of each gender at the relevant job level.
Do report balanced
The report must make visible both positive and negative findings. The companies must therefore describe the differences and risks that have been mapped, what may be the cause of these, what activities and measures have been initiated to prevent (or at least reduce) them, and the results of the work that has been done. Unbalanced reporting can backfire on your business.
The reporting format
The individual company is free to choose the reporting format that it deems most appropriate. Good statements are often characterized by the fact that they have a format that makes it possible to compare the information (and the development) from year to year. If the statement is precise and understandable, it will normally also be possible to make it relatively brief in form.
Questions?
We are ready to help you with the equality and discrimination work, salary mapping and the gender equality statement.
