Challenge

Sevenoaks School didn’t have a grading structure for support staff in place when they approached us. The overall aim of the wider project was to build a pay structure that provided Sevenoaks School with processes to guide consistent, equitable and fair reward decisions.

We agreed with their team that an equal pay audit would be the first step towards this desired outcome. This allowed them to understand if there were any pressing risks concerning equal pay.

Solution

The first step was to put together a grading structure that could help us make like-for-like comparisons and test work of equal value and work rated as equivalent.

We then identified naturally observable levels of responsibility within the organisation and created definitions for each of the grades which were used to place each role.

We then carried out an equal pay audit following our three-step process:

1. Conducted analyses of differences in pay by job level and by level and functional area.

2. Plotted employee salaries by gender, grade and function, reviewed outliers and tested pay differences across genders for employees with the same job title.

3. Investigated anomalies to identify any equal pay risks and determine if there was a justifiable factor for this.

We also ran workshops with the HR team to ensure they felt comfortable discussing the methodology and findings of the exercise with different internal stakeholders.

Outcome

First and foremost, Sevenoaks School were given reassurance. They could be comfortable that there were no structural or widespread equal pay concerns. We also provided actionable information that allowed them to conduct internal investigations where necessary.

The process and outcomes from the equal pay audit provided the foundation for the pay structure work that followed.