Who, what and when?
Gender equality policy simplifies reporting
Divide roles and responsibilities
Establish routines for ongoing documentation
Remember privacy
Submit balanced report
Format of report
Many employers are in the process of completing everything that needs to be submitted for the financial year 2021, of which the gender equality statement is one of the most important documents. Annual report must also include information about this statement, such as results from the statutory salary mapping that each company must carry out. This article provides guidance on how to effectively complete the process.
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 following:
- the results from the statutory wage mapping; and
- a description of the company's statutory equality and anti-discrimination work throughout the financial year.
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 2022.
Gender equality policy simplifies reporting
In 2021 it was difficult for many to write a concise and precise gender equality statement. If the company has a gender equality policy, then the writing job, the quality of the statement and the statutory work with gender equality and discrimination will be better. 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 anti-discrimination work lies, and which roles and people are part of this work. This will probably vary with the size and organisation of the business.
The responsibility is often placed with human resources or 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 done and produced in the equality and non-discrimination area.
The employees' representatives must also be involved in the ongoing work, in the organisation 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. Having ongoing documentation ensures that the company can substantiate the assessments made along the way and prevent discrepancies. Also it normally increases the efficiency of writing the annual gender equality statement.
The results from the statutory wage mapping are 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 do not have to be published per job level if there are fewer than five employees of each gender at the relevant job level.
The report must make visible both positive and negative findings. The companies must therefore describe the differences and risks that have been mapped, what the cause of these may be, 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 the business.
The individual company is free to choose the reporting format that it deems most appropriate. Good statements are often characterised 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.
For further information on this topic please contact Ole Kristian Olsby or Lise Gran at Homble Olsby | Littler by telephone (+47 23 89 75 70) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The Homble Olsby | Littler website can be accessed at www.homble-olsby.no.