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Wage Gap Reduction Initiative
Executive Council Office
Last Verified:
2008-02-12
What is the Wage Gap Reduction Initiative?
The Wage Gap Reduction Initiative in partnership with stakeholders is an
innovative Government of New Brunswick program comprised of a range of
strategies aimed at achieving greater economic prosperity through addressing
the wage gap.
In June 2005, Facing the Economic Imperative: New Brunswick's Five Year Wage Gap Action Plan (2005-2010) was launched to address New Brunswick's looming labour and skills shortages by better employing a largely under-utilized resource women.
New Brunswick's demographics point to not only a shrinking labour force, but also a rise in demand for skilled workers. An increase in skilled workers is critical to sustain our economy. Women are a key element of the solution because they represent nearly half the labour force, yet many are not employed to their full potential. It has been proven that strategies to reduce the wage gap also increase the number of skilled workers, create a stable workforce and improve a company's bottom line.
Eligibility Criteria
Employers, employees, women, youth, Aboriginal peoples, provincial departments and agencies, municipalities, private sector industries, business owners.
Summary
What is the Wage
Gap?
Wage gap refers to the difference between the average wages earned
by men and the average wages earned by women.
The wage gap is caused by outdated societal attitudes and beliefs about the place and value of women in the workplace.
Contributors to the wage gap are:
- the balancing of work and family responsibilities of working women;
- the job/industry clustering of working women; and
- the under-valuation of traditional female occupations.
Why Address the
Wage Gap?
Women who are not employed to their full potential represent more than just
a wage gap; they represent a productivity
gap. Addressing the wage gap can help businesses to increase their
productivity and their competitive advantage by better utilizing the working
potential of women. This will also address New Brunswick's skills and labour shortages.
BENEFITS FOR EMPLOYERS
Workplace wage gap strategies can:
- Increase retention and reduce turnover of staff;
- Strengthen recruitment efforts;
- Lower absenteeism;
- Decrease workplace stress;
- Improve workplace morale;
- Secure a stable workforce;
- Solve workplace skills needs / shortages.
These benefits can lead to increased workplace productivity.
How It
Works:
Everyone has a role to play.
Government's role is to lead,
educate, and support.
Employer's role is to participate, publicize, and
celebrate.
Public's role is to gain awareness, participate, and
celebrate.
Twelve (12) Stakeholder Strategies include:
Goal 1: Change Societal Attitudes
- Define a new set of attitudes;
- Publicize new attitudes;
- Promote new attitudes.
Goal 2: Increase Sharing of Family Responsibilities
- Adopt policies that balance work and family responsibilities;
- Expand flex-time/ part-time work options;
- Increase access to quality day care services.
Goal 3: Reduce Job Clustering of Women
- Ensure girls explore a wider variety of career options from an early age;
- Re-orient / retrain women to move into a wider range of jobs;
- Create gender-inclusive workplaces.
Goal 4: Increase Use of Pay Equity Practices
- Encourage the use of pay equity tools;
- Celebrate leaders and winners;
- Share lessons learned and best practices.
A Winning Scenario:
Employees
win from positive
changes in the workforce;
Employers win by meeting their human resource
challenges;
Society wins by
creating attitudes to support a progressive society; and
New Brunswick's Economy Prospers.
New Brunswick's Five Year Wage Gap Action Plan 2005-2010
The plan is built on a foundation of solid
research and features clear outcomes with well-defined measures of success. It
is based on recommendations from the Wage Gap Roundtable which the government
established to examine the wage gap and provide advice as to how it could be
solved in the New Brunswick
context.
To access the Five Year Wage Gap Action Plan 2005-2010 and to learn more about how to adopt wage gap strategies in your organization, visit this Web site: http://www.gnb.ca/0012/Womens-Issues/wg-es/index-e.asp ". The Web site also offers tools and information:
- Calculate your workplace wage gap;
- Assess for Family-Friendly HR practices;
- Review our wage gap fact sheets, case studies, and infosheets on causes and contributors to the wage gap, pay equity, and effective ways to recruit and retain workers;
- Read testimonials from companies who’ve reduced their wage gap;
- Download your free wage gap employer toolkit.
For any additional information, call toll-free 1-888-576-4444.
New Brunswick Contact(s):
Wage Gap Reduction Initiative
Office of the Executive Council
551 King Street
P. O. Box 6000
Fredericton, New Brunswick
E3B 5H1
Toll-free (information): 1-888-576-4444
E-mail: nbwagegap@gnb.ca