The professional equality index in companies is calculated according to five criteria: the gender pay gap (40 points), the gap in annual increases (20 points), the gap in promotions (15 points), increases on return from maternity leave (15 points) and the share of women in the ten highest salaries (10 points).
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Encouragement, but can still do better. The professional equality index, published for the fourth year, has made it possible to reduce certain wage inequalities between women and men within companies. But he “remain perfectible”assures the Minister of Labor Elisabeth Borne, in an interview with Echoes (for subscribers) published Monday, March 7. In 2021, the average rating of companies improved slightly, from 85 to 86 out of 100. “The index is installed in the landscape. Now is the time to work on improving it. This should be one of the projects for the next five-year period”she believes.
The professional equality index includes five criteria: the gender pay gap (40 points), the gap in annual raises (20 points), the gap in promotions (15 points), raises on return from maternity leave (15 points) and the share of women in the ten highest salaries (10 points). Companies with more than 250 employees have been required to publish their overall score since 2019 and those with 50 to 250 since 2020. When the score is below 75, the company must take corrective action within three years.
This year, 61% of companies with more than 50 employees declared their index at the beginning of March, a stable figure. The two indicators “return from maternity leave” and “parity in the 10 highest salaries”, black points of 2020, increase by one point. Companies with more than 1,000 employees obtain the best results: 85% have published their index for an average score of 89 out of 100. Among the poor performers, 16 companies with more than 250 employees, whose names have not been communicated , record a score below 75 for the fourth year. The Minister confirms that they will see each other “apply sanctions for the first time”a fine of up to 1% of payroll.
Eleven others who have not yet declared their index could join them. Among those with 50 to 250 employees, 140 have had a score below 75 for 3 years and will be penalized in 2023 if they remain below this threshold. Since this year, companies that have more than 75, but less than 85 are also required to adopt measures to progress. The implementation of this index in 2018 was welcomed by several unions, because it makes it possible to statistically measure wage inequalities and obliges companies to an obligation of result.