Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value: Swiss practices

1. Equal pay for equal workor work of equal value:Swiss practices Global Summit of Women – May 31 to June 2 2012 – Athens Sylvie Durrer, Director - Federal Office for Gender Equality www.equality-switzerland.ch

2. Content • Legal basis • Facts and figures • Wage gap: definition • One main tool and different measures • LOGIB • Control in publicprocurement • Dialog ofEqual Pay • Equalsalarycertification • Websites andcampaigns • Women‘sEmpowermentPrinciples – UN Women

3. Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 (a1981) Art. 8 Equality before the law 3 Men and women shall have equal rights. The law shall ensure their equality, both in law and in practice, most particularly in the family, in education, and in the workplace. Men and women shall have the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

4. Federal Act on Gender Equality(Gender Equality Act, GEA) of 24 March 1995 Art. 3 Prohibition of discrimination • Employees must not be discriminated against on the basis of their sex, whether directly or indirectly, including on the basis of their marital status, their family situation or, in the case of female employees, of pregnancy. • This prohibition applies in particular to hiring, allocation of duties, setting of working conditions, pay, basic and advanced training, promotion and dismissal.

5. Switzerland - A few facts and figures • 88.4% of the male population and 76.5% of the female population (age 15 to 64) are employed or looking for a job (FSO 2011); • 87% of men and 42% of women work full time (FSO 2009); • 27% of women work less than 50% (FSO 2009); • There is still a very stark division between male and female professions. Salaries are lower in typically female professions compared to male professions; • Women are poorly represented at management level. Only 3% of managers and 4% of directors in Swiss listed companies are women.

6. Wage gap in Switzerland • In 2010, in Switzerland, the wage gap is of 18.4% (standardized median salary) for the private sector. • 60% of this wage gap between women and men is attributable to objective factors : education, professional position, professional experience, etc.. • 40% cannot be explained by objective factors and is consequently to be considered as wage discrimination, according to the Gender Equality Act.

7. Man Woman Gender factors Diff. Sal. C. Others factors B. Job-related factors A. Individual factors Difference and discrimination • Objectivefactors (A-B-C) • Education, training, potential professional experience • Job, function, seniority • Nightwork, shiftwork, etc.

8. Tool and measuresto eliminate gender pay discrimination • LOGIB– Self-analysis tool, free of charge • Public procurements – Controls of pay equity • Dialogue of Equal Pay - Agreement between the social partners and the governement • Label equal salary – Swiss private certification • www.equality-salary.ch – Information, teaching material • www. equalpayday.ch – National campaign • www.unwomen.ch – Women’s empowerment principles

9. Self-assessment tool : Logibwww.logib.ch Strongest points of logib • Employers can themselves check their wage policy and see whether the principle of equal pay for women and men is actually being complied with; • It doesn’t need to have both a woman and a man in the same position with the same qualifications and competencies to evaluate the salary level each person is entitled to; • Its relies on a well-founded scientific basis, theregressionanalysis, statisticalmethodrecognized by the Federal Supreme Court in 2003.

10. Technical characteristics • Simple data gathering • Same data as required in official payrollstatistics • Five variables : • educationandtraining • potential professional experience • seniority (personal qualificationcharacteristics) • function • jobprofile (job-relatedqualifications) • Transparency and traceability; results at a glance; • Based on Excel software; • Suitable for businesses with a minimum staff of 50 employees; • Versions in German, French, Italian and English.

11. Logib: Data

12. Logib : Results at a glance

13. Equal pay and public procurements Definition • Purchase by governmentsand state-owned firms of goods, services and works; • Major economic activity. Why to consider pay equity in public procurements? • Respects the FederalAct on GenderEquality; • Preventsunfair market advantage and distortion of competitionbetweencompanies. Public procurement accounts for a large slice of economic activity in most OECD countries.

14. Equal pay in public procurementLegal Basis • Art. 8, para 1, c, Federal Act on Public Procurement (FAPP) The following principles shall be respected in awarding public contracts: c. Contracts shall only be awarded to suppliers that guarantee equal treatment of men and women in respect of pay for workers performing services in Switzerland. • Art. 6, para 4, Ordinance on Public Procurement The awarding authority may call for checks in respect of equal treatment of women and men. The task of conducting such checks may be assigned to federal, cantonal or local authority gender equality offices.

15. Equal pay in public procurements Monitoring procedure • Random samples taken from the Swiss Commercial Gazette; • Contract obtained from the procuring party; • Individual pay data for all employees obtained from company; • Analysis of data with logib and by specialists; • Discussion of results with the company; • Further analysis conducted where necessary; • Procuring party and Swiss Federal Procurement Commission informed of the result; • Change or sanction imposed where necessary.

16. Dialogue of Equal Pay • www.lohngleichheitsdialog.ch • Tripartite agreement between the employer and employee associations and the governement to encourage companies to voluntarily check their pay conditions • In case of inequality, companies have a maximum of 4 years to rectify these problems.

17. Dialogue of Equal Pay Achieved with success Novartis Pharma AG, BaselSwiss Post, BernSyngenta AG, BaselVCS Verkehrs-Club der Schweiz, Bern Administration Canton BernSwisscom AG, BernErgon Informatik AG, ZürichAdministration Bern CityRWD Schlatter AG, Roggwil On-going Tornos SA, MoutierAudemarsPiguet, Le BrassusFederal Administration, BernMcDonald's SwitzerlandHonegger AG, KönizEricsson AG Schweiz, Zürichupccablecom GmbH, ZürichHuber+Suhner AG, Pfäffikon ZHSuva, LuzernSwiss International Air Lines, ZürichSwissRailway SBB, Bern (since 2012)

18. Label equal salary • Equal salary is a swiss certification which proves - without publicly divulging confidential information - that a company applies a fair wage policy between women and men. • The process is split in 2 phases : a statistical evaluation of the salary data followed by an on site audit • Statistical evaluation: based on logib • On-site audit: • Interviews with employees and staff members • Survey among employees. • A certification company manages the entire process. Financially supported by the Federal Office for Gender Equality

19. label equal-salary • Corum Sàrl • Etablissement d’assurance contre l’incendie - Vaud • Eglise réformée évangélique du Canton de Neuchâtel • Fédération luthérienne mondiale (FLM) • HOTELA • Retraites Populaires - Vaud • Services industriels de Genève • Unirisc SA • Ville de Fribourg • World Economic Forum

20. www.equality-salaire.ch www.equalpayday.ch

21. Women’s empowerment principles Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality. Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers. Promote education, training and professional development for women. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

22. Wage equality - A public issue

23. Thank you for your attention Much has been done, a lot still remains.