Courage to address the gender pay gap

ADDRESSING THE GENDER pay gap and inequity generally takes courage according to Simpson Grierson's HR director Jo Copeland, who was awarded a Gold Award at the YWCA Equal Pay Awards, along with Lion NZ.

“It is time for us all to ask what the gap is in our organisations, speak up, ask your executive team what they are prepared to do to fix it and take action,” she says in a media release.

She says the firm takes pride in the fact it has had a zero percent gender pay gap for the last three years, thanks to the partnership, driven by chair Kevin Jaffe.

“It is totally unacceptable in 2017 for there to still be a pay gap in New Zealand.

"While it is great that the pay gap has reduced by around three percent in the past year, the truth is that it only gets us back to where we were as a country five years ago.

“But the good news is that I see so many organisations taking this seriously now and making huge progress.

"Business leaders are rightly feeling very uncomfortable when they realise that their organisations have a big gap. I don’t think that sits comfortably with any director. The more transparency we have in this area, the faster things will change.”

This is the third year Simpson Grierson has been recognised at the YWCA Equal Pay Awards, winning silver in 2014, and gold in 2016.