Analyzing Employment Relations: Pay Gaps in Australia

This report provides an overview of employment relations in Australia, focusing on the gender pay gap and its impact on socio-economic outcomes. It examines the employment relations framework, highlighting the historical context and ongoing challenges related to gender equality. The report analyzes pay gaps within organizations, differentiating between like-for-like, by-level, and organization-wide gaps. It discusses the role of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and other initiatives aimed at promoting equal opportunities and addressing pay disparities. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for enhanced transparency, equal employment rights, and the development of workplace arrangements that foster a more equitable environment for all employees. It references key studies and resources to support its analysis.

Managing employment relations

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Employment relations framework..............................................................................................2
Pay gaps within the organizations..............................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................4

Introduction
Australia Employment relations system is known for offering unequal social-economic
outcomes for men and women. The unequal treatment based on the gender effects in unequal
social-economic outcomes for men and women. There is an unequal gender pay gap in
Australian employment. The gender pay gap at the workplace is subjective to the discernment
and prejudice in the hiring and pays decisions. Women and men are employed in several
industries in diverse jobs. The female-oriented industries attract applicants at lower wages.
There is even a dearth of workplace tractability in order to accommodate accountabilities
mainly in senior roles. Workplace gender equality agency (WGEA) is active in the Australian
organizations which analyses own pay data in several methods to expose diverse pay equity
issues. This agency takes action at all the levels of the organizations. Several resources have
been also developed to assist employers in undertaking a pay gap analysis and address gender
pay gaps.
Employment relations framework
Gender equality is overdue for a long time in the Australian employment relations
framework. Despite several efforts, women endure to be exceptionally deprived in the context
of industrialized relations. The factor leading to the unequal social economic outcome for
men and women are structural and systematic in nature. In the background of socio outcome
which undervalues the work of women are judgement interlinks with the gendered work
configurations and behaviors. The women are unnecessarily obstructed by the current trends
towards apprehensive work and decreased wages (Shields, et al. 2015).
There is a lack of framework in Australia which can centralize the equal socio outcome for
both men and women. The industry haggling and refining awards have gained the capability
to address the undervalued work of women and restrict the growing trend towards doubtful
work. The gap in pay advantaging men over the women has proved to be both insistent and
widespread. The factors of the current gender pay gap are multifaceted (Williams, 2017).
There is misappropriating wages for the females. The female-oriented occupations are also
comparatively lower than the male occupations. The employment relations system in
Australia requires enhanced transparency. It can increase assurance that the award system
does not rely on the lowest wages as a disadvantage (Cassells & Duncan, 2018).

The women in Australia have generally fewer choices and opportunities as compared to men.
As an outcome, women are misappropriating to men in their work life along with the
economic aspects and societal roles. The unequal social-economic outcome is due to the
gender pay gap and the gender pay gap is where men and women do not get equal pay for the
equal piece of the work (O’Reilly, et al. 2015). In fact, the principle of the ‘equal pay for the
equal work’ was presented in 1969. The gender pay gap has even reduced and is in the range
of 15-17%. But this rate is high when it is compared to other countries. The gender gap is
realized more at the senior levels. The occupations are highly separated by gender in
Australia. It results in more of the male-oriented occupations. It has been realized that in the 8
industries, women causes less than 40% of the workers (Conway, et al. 2016).
Pay gaps within the organizations
The unequal socio-economic outcomes are offered to the man and women in the employment
relations system of Australia. The women are likely to be less promoted as compared to men.
The reasons leading to gender pay gap are lack of office flexibility to accommodate
accountabilities, women’s misappropriate share of the unpaid work, men and women working
for the different roles and biases at the time of hiring (Noe, et al. 2017). The pay gap analysis
identified within the organizations is:
Like for like gaps: The pay gaps in the organizations between the genders are undertaken for
the same task or comparable value. For instance, comparing the pay gap of two junior
engineers in the same organization (Kennedy, et al. 2017).
By level gaps: There is even by level gaps between men and women in the organization
identified for doing same or comparable work. For instance, comparing individuals within the
several levels of the organization like managers, professionals and key management
personnel.
Organization-wide: There is also an organization-wide gender gap identified for the variance
between the average compensation of women and the average compensation of men (Cheng,
Wang & Taksa, 2017).
Conclusion
The laws have been implemented from time to time in the Australian economy to promote the
equal socio-economic outcome for both men and women in Australia. There is a Workplace

gender equality agency (WGEA) in Australia working for endorsing and refining gender
equality at the workplaces. This agency is accountable for managing the workplace gender
equality act 2012. The agency was mainly set up giving equal opportunities to the women at
the workplace. Add on, The Australian Institute of Human Rights (AIER) is working as an
NPO and works for the public interest in order to promote rights of the employers in the
cooperative industrial relations framework. This organization even works on balanced ideas
for workplace rights. The programs have been also implemented by the AIER to educate and
empower employees. The rights of the employees are even advocated for the equal socio-
economic outcomes at the workplace. The improved pay gap can encourage the participation
of the individuals who have the same objectives. The models of the work place arrangements
should be promoted which can respect equal employment rights and standards. A charter can
be developed for employment rights in Australia.

References
Cassells, R., & Duncan, A. S. (2018). Gender equity insights 2018: Inside Australia’s gender
pay gap (No. GE03). Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business
School.
Cheng, Z., Wang, B. Z., & Taksa, L. (2017). Labour Force Participation and Employment of
Humanitarian Migrants: Evidence from the Building a New Life in Australia
Longitudinal Data. Macquarie University Faculty of Business & Economics Research
Paper, (6).
Conway, E., Fu, N., Monks, K., Alfes, K., & Bailey, C. (2016). Demands or resources? The
relationship between HR practices, employee engagement, and emotional exhaustion
within a hybrid model of employment relations. Human Resource
Management, 55(5), 901-917.
Kennedy, T., Rae, M., Sheridan, A., & Valadkhani, A. (2017). Reducing gender wage
inequality increases economic prosperity for all: Insights from Australia. Economic
Analysis and Policy, 55, 14-24.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
O’Reilly, J., Smith, M., Deakin, S., & Burchell, B. (2015). Equal pay as a moving target:
International perspectives on forty-years of addressing the gender pay
gap. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 39(2), 299-317.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... &
Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts,
practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Williams, S. (2017). Introducing Employment Relations. Oxford University Press.