Gender Inequality 6
HR Implications
Executive Summary
The purpose of the given report is to analyze the effects of news stories of the HR implications in Australia. In the given report the introduction will introduce the specifics of the report like defining the strategic human resource management and the concept of gender inequality which is the topic of the news article focused in the report. The main body will be including the analysis of the news article in focus. Along with it, the diversity management which is the responsibility of the HR manager will be discussed because achieving gender equality at the workplace is the part of diversity management. The issue will be identified and later what improvement is needed along with the HR implication required will also be added in the report. Next part will discuss the laws and the policies developed by the government for removing gender inequality from Australia. Also, the benefits the country and the organizations will achieve by following the gender equality at the workplace. As the report is about an issue of gender inequality in Australia some solutions for the removal of the issue will also be given in the report. In the end, the conclusion will summarize the findings of the report in brief.
Contents
Introduction 3
Identification, Analysis, and Solution 3
Analysis of the news article 3
Diversity Management-Gender Equality 3
Identifying the issue 3
Needs improvement 5
HR Implications Required 5
Laws developed to provide equal opportunity 6
Benefits of Diversity Management 6
Solution to the Issue 7
Conclusion 8
References 9
Introduction
Human resource management requires the strategies that need to be developed by the HR manager to effectively and efficiently utilize the human capital to achieve the organizational goals. In the increasing globalization the HRs are facing various challenges in addressing the global competition (Engert, Rauter and Baumgartner, 2016). To address the challenges the continuous and iterative approach is developed that matches the organizational environment known as strategic human resources management (Mullins, 2018). The given report is focusing on one such challenge which is managing the diversity in the organization on the basis of gender. The implication will be based on a news article published related to the gender inequality being practiced in Australia. Even after various acts and regulations being practised in the country still, the practice is not hundred percent abolished. The report will identify the issue and analyse it with the use of relevant literature to provide practical solutions for it.
Identification, Analysis, and Solution
Analysis of the news article
The news article in consideration says that according to the survey done for 2016-2017 Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WEGA) that across the Australia actions are being taken against the persisting gender imbalance and pay gaps in the economy. SAP Australia’s President and Managing Director Mr. Colin Brooks says that last year statistics shows that there is 15.3% pay gap in the national gender pay. Though, the SAP says that employers and employees associated with them has taken the Equity Pledge and achieved the gender gap pay by 2% in between the members. But, they aim to bring it to zero.
The article says that in Australia the men out earn women in all industry and jobs. Even the advertisement for job application asks for dynamic or competitive as the adjectives for masculine approach. Peter Acheson, CEO Peoplebank says that it is important that awareness should be raised to find the source for such biased thoughts and remove them. This should be continued till zero percent is achieved and gender pay gap is removed from the Australian economy (Hilton, 2017).
Diversity Management-Gender Equality
Identifying the issue
Specifically defining the gender equality comes under the responsibility of the human resource management referred as diversity management. Diversity includes many different aspects like culture, beliefs, sex, race, color, geographical location, religion, and etc. But, in this the problem identified is related to one aspect that gender in which the women in Australia are being paid as compared to men. These women are working on the same position, with same perks, and qualifications but the pay is subsequently lower than what men gets working as and on the same position (Adams and Berg, 2017).
Fig 1: – Gender pay gap statistics in Australia
Source: – www.wgea.gov.au
The gender inequality is not limited to the pay gap only but the approach which is made to attract the human talent for a job is persuasive towards approaching the men rather than women. The Van, Gellecum, Baxter and Western, (2008) writes in the journal article they published that not only the high-level positions, but the labor market is also biased when it comes to paying equal pay to women as men (van Gellecum, Baxter and Western, 2008). The researchers have found that in Australia the gender gap leads to many other gaps. Like, women in Australia so not advance career-wise as compared to men and therefore accumulate a lesser amount of retirement or superannuation saving. It has been observed that men also face the gender discrimination when it comes to policies flexible working hours, or parental leave (Churchman and Thompson, 2008). Though, discrimination with men on the basis of gender is less as compared to women, but steps are needed to achieve workplace equality for both the genders.
Fig 2: – The Australian gender pay gap
Source: – www.wgea.gov.au
Needs improvement
There are many things those need the improvement if the aim to establish zero percent gender inequality has to be achieved. Some points those should be focused for improvement are mentioned below: –
The employers to provide equal pay to both for the work of comparable or equal value.
Removal of hurdles in the women’s participation in the workforce.
Getting access of women to every industry and occupation along with any position which includes the leadership roles
Eliminating any discrimination based on gender, family and relationship care, flexible hours.
It is important to analyse the above-given need for improvement points as achieving gender equality is not only fair but also but ‘right thing to do.’ It helps in building the economic development of the country by improving the overall economic performance (wega, 2018).
HR Implications Required
In an organization it is the job of the HR manager to mange the workforce and make sure that the right candidate with the required talent are hired and a competitive compensation in the form of wages, perks, bonuses, and leaves are provided to the candidate. It not only improves the work performance of the employees, but also helps in achieving the organizational goals efficiently and effectively (Mullins, 2018). There are certain implications that a HR manager have to follow to avoid the rising gender inequality as referred in the news article considered in the report. Those implications are as follows: –
The method of approaching the candidate should be discrimination free.
The recruitment and selection procedure should be ba1sed on talent, experience and knowledge not on the gender.
The pay should be equal for both the genders
The workload and position should be given on the basis of capabilities not gender.
The perks, rewards, and other motivation methods should be same for both the genders.
The employee policies like health and safety, leaves, flexible hours should be same for all.
Training and development program should be developed for both (Eveline and Todd, 2009).
Through, following such implication the responsibility of the HR manager to achieve the diversity management in the organization will be achieved.
Laws developed to provide equal opportunity
There many laws in Australia those aims to provide equal opportunity to all. The government is aiming to bring the equality in the country and this approach is known as EEO that is Equal Employment Opportunity. In this government policy the government attempts to make sure that all people are having equal opportunities for employment regardless of factors like religion, sex, race, or national origin. Apart from it there are laws specifically designed to provide equal rights to women. Some examples are: –
Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012
Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency
Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA)
Benefits of Diversity Management
The diversity management is the aspect if achieved will help the country as well as the organization to enjoy many benefits. Some of the benefits that gender equality, an important aspect of diversity management provides are as follows: –
Improved economic growth and national productivity
Improved performance of the organization
It helps in enhancing the capability of the companies to attract the right candidate with right talent and retain the human talent
Enhances the organizational reputation (wega, 2018).
The above-given points show that how important it is to apply initiatives to achieve gender equality in the organization.
Solution to the Issue
In the current globalised business world, gender equality not only adds to the reputation of the organization but also bring improvement at the organizational level as well as in the overall economic growth (Kokovikhin, 2017). Therefore, it is important to find practical solutions to the issue. Some of the solutions are as follows: –
Starting from the start- it is important to make the people understand the importance from the time they step into the working. At the university level the concept of equal employment opportunity should be introduced to avoid such idea to creep into prospective leaders.
Culture- in many cultures the women are not considered as equal therefore, steps needs to be taken to ensure to remove such cultural practices.
Employers practices- Employers should have set rules which are same for both genders. If top management will practice equality the lower hierarchy will follow.
Training- the training and development programs should be developed those can train HR managers to conduct their functions without developing and discriminating practices related to candidate for an organizational position.
Policies- though the policies are already in place to make sure that no gender inequalities are being followed in Australia. Still, 15.3% gender pay gap has been observed. Thus, the need for more strict policies are required.
Helpline- there could a helpline that could be especially developed to listen any workplace discrimination taking place in Australia especially with women. An approachable help will ensure the removal of gender pay gap in Australia (Sidle, 2013).
As compared to the other developed and developing countries in the world the percentage of gender pay gap and gender inequality in Australia is quite less. Though, it is not completely removed and the above-given solutions will help the government as well as the organizations to completely remove the gender inequality from the workplace of Australia. Once removed the HR managers will be able to achieve their target of diversity management in their organizations.
Conclusion
The business world is aware of what is happening around the world and many stories are affecting the working criteria of HR managers in fulfilling their roles effectively. The challenge that a news article published raised in about inequality in the pay of men and women working on same level and with same qualifications, and experiences. In Australia, there is approximately 15.3% of gender pay gap which leads to gender inequality. Authorities and business managers are working towards following the policies to provide equal pay to women but still a lot needs to be done. There are many benefits if gender equality is achieved at the organizational level as well as for the economic growth of the country. To bring the gap to zero percent a combined approach and efforts are required. In the end, it is concluded that combinedly organizational management and the government agencies can develop and follow policies those can help in achieving the targeted diversity management in the organizations in Australia.
References
Adams, A. and Berg, J. (2017). When Home Affects Pay: An Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap Among Crowdworkers. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Chichilnisky, G. (2009). Gender Pay Gap. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Churchman, S. and Thompson, C. (2008). Delivering gender diversity: beyond the business case. Strategic HR Review, 7(5), pp.17-22.
Engert, S., Rauter, R. and Baumgartner, R. (2016). Exploring the integration of corporate sustainability into strategic management: a literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, pp.2833-2850.
Eveline, J. and Todd, P. (2009). Gender Mainstreaming: The Answer to the Gender Pay Gap?. Gender, Work & Organization, 16(5), pp.536-558.
Hilton, J. (2017). Is HR doing enough to address gender inequality?. [online] HR Online. Available at: https://www.hcamag.com/hr-business-review/leadership-development/is-hr-doing-enough-to-address-gender-inequality-244874.aspx [Accessed 6 Feb. 2018].
Kahn, L. (2015). Wage compression and the gender pay gap. IZA World of Labor.
Kokovikhin, A. (2017). Diversity Management Competencies of HR Managers. DEStech Transactions on Economics, Business and Management, (emem).
Mullins, F. (2018). HR on board! The implications of human resource expertise on boards of directors for diversity management. Human Resource Management.
Sidle, S. (2013). Boundaryless Careers and the Gender Pay Gap: A Solution for Women?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(4), pp.10-11.
van Gellecum, Y., Baxter, J. and Western, M. (2008). Neoliberalism, gender inequality and the Australian labour market. Journal of Sociology, 44(1), pp.45-63.
wega (2017). Australia’s gender pay gap statistics. [ebook] Australia: Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Available at: https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/gender-pay-gap-statistics.pdf [Accessed 7 Feb. 2018].
wega (2018). About workplace gender equality. [online] Wgea.gov.au. Available at: https://www.wgea.gov.au/learn/about-workplace-gender-equality [Accessed 7 Feb. 2018].
Yanadori, Y., Gould, J. and Kulik, C. (2014). A Fair Go? Gender Pay Gap at the Executive Level in Australia. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014(1), pp.11444-11444.