SSC is pleased to announce the publication of our own agency’s gender pay gap action plan. Under the gender pay principle of “transparency and accessibility”, all public service agencies have committed to having action plans in place and making these action plans public in 2020.
Follow the link below to see more about our agency’s plan and what we are focused on.
SSC Gender Pay Gap Action Plan [201 KB | PDF]
SSC Gender Pay Gap Action Plan - HTML
SSC Gender Pay Gap Action Plan 2019-20
This action plan sets out our commitment to leading by example through understanding, addressing and making substantial progress towards eliminating our own agency gender pay gap.
Our target
Our target is to be in the top quartile (lowest pay gap) for the Public Service.
Current snapshot
SSC’s gender pay gap is decreasing (through to August 2019)
- SSC’s gender pay gap has more than halved since 2015, from 26.9% (2015) to 10.2% (August 2019). Excluding the Deputy State Services Commissioner and CEs on assignment, the gap is 6.6%.
- Although deeper analysis has been undertaken by workforce segments, due to our small size, to protect anonymity it is inappropriate to publish the detail of this.
- SSC’s small workforce size means that our gender pay gap can be volatile, with senior appointments having the biggest effect on the data. Calculating the gender pay gap using median pay reduces this volatility and more clearly shows the downward trend over the past five years.
No like-for-like pay gap
Staff gender representation by role level (as at August 2019)
- Females make up the majority of SSC’s workforce at 64%.
- We have analysed the pay gaps per role level category and no “like for like” pay gaps exist for women at each level.
- The key driver of our SSC gender pay gap is due to representation and the larger concentration of women in business administration roles compared to males, who have a higher representation in higher paid roles.
Employee involvement
We engaged with our people via an interactive staff talk which explored the Public Service priority areas of focus. This shaped the proposed action plan for SSC by identifying areas that need addressing and informed the prioritisation of actions.
A cross commission team was established to refresh our agency action plan, drawing from staff representatives across the business.
Quarterly monitoring and reporting
The cross commission team will monitor progress and ensure the action plan is meeting its targets in 2019-20. Progress will be reported to LT quarterly.
Our focus areas and Our actions for 2019-20
1. Flexible work by default
We will be an exemplar in flexible work and implement flexible work by default practices within SSC by July 2020
Why? Flexible options, equally available to all genders, and which don’t undermine career progression or pay, support different patterns of workforce participation.
To achieve this objective in 2019-20 we will:
- Engage with our people to raise awareness of SSC’s current flexible arrangements policy
- Define what flexible work options we can support due to the nature of our business
- Develop our toolkit to support a variety of flexible work options, informed by the GPG and Pay Equity Taskforce
- Pilot new flexible work by default approaches within SSC
2. Our people practices
We will ensure our people practices are free from the effects of conscious and unconscious bias at SSC
Why? Addressing bias and discrimination at all stages in the employment cycle will make working at SSC fairer for everyone.
To achieve this objective in 2019-20 we will:
- Increase transparency around our pay bands - internally and externally (when advertising opportunities)
- Partner with the Diversity & Inclusion team to pilot training and implement inclusive leadership practices which address bias
- Review our recruitment and talent development processes to reduce the potential for bias, using best practice guidance from the GPG and Pay Equity Taskforce and CE recruitment
- Ensure diverse selection panels, shortlists and actively source diverse talent pools
3. Gender representation and career progression
We will focus on gender balance at all levels in SSC and ensure clear and transparent career progression opportunities
Why? SSC’s gender pay gap is largely due to how men and women are represented in role level categories. Addressing this, and making pathways for progression transparent, will help reduce gender imbalances. However, this will take time.
To achieve this objective in 2019-20 we will:
- Monitor gender balance across all SSC role level categories, particularly at the bottom and top end
- Reinvigorate participation in Government Women’s Network to support, network, inspire and shape women into leaders
- Work with people leaders to ensure clear and transparent progression and promotion opportunities for all
- Reshape administrative and business support roles to be attractive to all genders and offer opportunities to build career pathways within SSC and the Public Service