What Does the New Pay Transparency Legislation Mean for WORTH
On International Women’s Day, WORTH was invited to speak at a round table discussion with the Premier, Minister of Finance, Attorney General and Parliamentary Secretary of Gender Equity. Our Director at Large, Sloan Vereecken was honoured to take a seat at the table with Dr. Ruth Habte, organizer for AccessBC and Zoey Wells, Wear 2 Start. Together, they discussed important legislation benefiting women, including steps to narrow the pay gap.
At WORTH we strongly believe closing the pay gap starts with posting salary bands, a small step we have been advocating for with employers since 2018. We feel the Pay Transparency Bill is an important first step towards achieving gender pay equality. As Sloan shared with the Premier, this is only the beginning of a longer journey towards pay equality. We are committed to advocating for the additional steps needed in order to achieve true pay equity within tourism, hospitality and recreation. Equity benefits everyone, including employers. The hospitality and tourism industry pays competitive wages with excellent benefits. Transparency results in more applicants, which we need in a labour crisis. We know posting the salary range is an excellent step towards attracting, retaining, and developing women in the industry. Learn more about the legislation and hear from Sloan below.
What does the new pay transparency legislation mean for the tourism, hospitality and recreation industries?
The gender pay gap has been a persistent issue in Canada, with women often earning less than their male counterparts for doing the same job. Historically, British Columbia has been among the provinces with the highest pay gap in the country, with women earning 17% less than men in 2022. The pay gap also disproportionately impacts Indigenous women, women of colour, immigrant women, as well as women with disabilities and gender-queer people. To make matters worse, until recently, BC was also one of the only provinces without pay transparency or pay equity legislation. However, on March 7, 2023, the BC government announced a pay transparency legislation.
Pay transparency vs. pay equity vs. pay equality
Pay transparency broadly means posting salary ranges on job postings and reporting annually on a company's pay gaps. The goal is to highlight pay inequity in the hopes that companies will correct any pay gaps. Pay equity, on the other hand, means paying employees with similar job functions comparably similar wages, regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, or other status. Pay equality is a more comprehensive concept than pay equity and examines whether all employees have the opportunity to earn the same wages. This goes beyond comparing people in similar roles and looks at compensation across positions to determine if there is equal representation in terms of gender or race in positions across the pay spectrum.
What does this new legislation mean for women of recreation, tourism and hospitality?
While the BC Government has shown a commitment to closing the gender pay gap, the private sector will not see enforcement of pay transparency legislation until 2025 or 2026, based on the size of the company. You can review the full timeline here.
Advocating for closing the pay gap was one of the reasons I joined the WORTH Board of Directors in 2021 - it never made sense to me that those who identify as women in a women-dominated industry earn less than their male counterparts. With my experience as a leader and mentor in this industry, I have firsthand experience with women being less likely to negotiate their salaries. I think that the Pay Transparency Bill is an important first step towards achieving gender pay equity, but it is only the beginning of a longer journey towards pay equality. I am committed to ongoing conversations about gender pay equality in the industry, not just during International Women's Day but every day. I am proud of the opportunities that the tourism, hospitality, and recreation industry provides and believe we have the tools to become leaders in promoting pay equality. My goal is not just to ensure women have a seat at the table but also to have a voice at the table.
WORTH connected with Grace Lore, when she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equality in 2022. Later that year, I connected with the Office of the Ministry of Finance which sparked a conversation about how WORTH can support bills like these moving forward. In March 2023, WORTH was invited to join a discussion on the new pay transparency legislation the BC government has put forward. I was honoured to represent WORTH at a round table discussion between the Premier, Minister of Finance, Attorney General, and Parliamentary Secretary of Gender Equity on the new pay transparency bill.
What can companies do NOW to close the pay gap and attract and retain talent in the industry?
Closing the pay gap benefits everyone, including employers. The hospitality and tourism industry pays competitive wages with excellent benefits and, according to Indeed, pay transparency results in 90% more applicants. This is particularly important in a labour crisis where attracting and retaining qualified employees is critical. Posting the salary range is an excellent step toward attracting, retaining, and developing women in the industry. Don’t wait for the legislation:
Be transparent by telling your employees how much they'll get paid: post the salary range when you are hiring!
Stay true to pay equality by conducting pay equity audits and SHARE the data (compensation plan with a breakdown of salary, salary benefits and the cost of a whole benefits system, along with a specific pay range for each employee). For more details on how to do this, click here.