Corporations back calls for government to enforce gender pay gap reporting

Kiwibank, Xero, Sky City and Meridian are among 13 businesses that have signed a letter asking the government to require medium and large businesses to publicly report their pay gaps. Photo / RNZ

By RNZ

A group of businesses have urged the Government to address the gender pay gap.

An open letter asking the Government to require medium and large businesses to publicly report their pay gaps was signed by 13 corporates - Skycity, Westpac, Frucor Suntory, AIA, Lion, DB Breweries, Coca-Cola, Xero, Kiwibank, Meridian, Chorus, Z Energy and Auckland Transport.

They all have the Gender Tick, an independent programme that assesses organisations' commitment to gender equity.

"We value Aotearoa's diverse workforce and are committed to the Kiwi value of fairness for all," the letter said.

"That is why we've taken steps to provide a place to work that is equal for all genders in becoming Gender Tick accredited.

"In doing so, we have measured our pay gaps, and reported them publicly.

"Now we're working to fix the gaps."

Stats NZ data from 2021 showed women earn 9.1 per cent less than men.

The gap increased to 14 per cent for wāhine Māori, 20 per cent for Pasifika women, and 12 per cent for Asian women, versus all men.

The letter said recent polling by the Mind the Gap campaign showed three quarters of New Zealanders wanted medium and large employers to measure and publish their pay gaps - like the public service does.

A woman holds a sign reading "Same value, same pay" at a pay equity rally. File photo. Photo / RNZ

Mind the Gap chief executive Dellwyn Stewart said she wanted to see the Government and business sector agree how pay gaps should be measured and fixed.

"We're less than a month away now to the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, it hasn't delivered equal pay. We need to do something different.

"Pay gap reporting will really help unlock that next stage of getting to equal pay.

"It's that old adage of if you can't see it, you can't fix it.

"Reporting allows you to see where you've got issues and gives you the insights in order to correct them."

AIA New Zealand chief executive Nick Stanhope said the company published its gender pay gap in March this year.

"We did this to encourage the gender pay conversation, as well as to ensure that as an organisation we hold ourselves accountable for addressing our current pay gap and commit to making improvements."

Chorus chief people officer Shaun Philp and SkyCity chief people and culture officer Claire Walker agreed that public reporting was important for accountability and progress towards equity.

- RNZ