Introduction
WageIndicator Foundation's mission is to provide 'more labour market transparency for the benefit of all employers, employees and workers worldwide by sharing and comparing information on wages, labour law and career'. WageIndicator believes that this approach should not only apply to the outside world, but also for everyone who contributes to WageIndicator in one way or another. All workers, board members, freelancers, interns and other people involved should perform their activities in a transparent organisation that is free from prejudice. All voices should be heard and be encouraged to speak up, regardless of their background and position.
WageIndicator’s Gender Equality Plan is a first-time effort to institutionalise this mission on the topic of gender. WageIndicator is internally motivated to do so, but is also driven by the guidelines for Horizon Europe. More specifically, to be eligible for funding from Horizon Europe, the EU's framework programme for research and innovation, an organisation should have a Gender Equality Plan. This is a part of the efforts by the European Commission to promote gender equality, as set in its Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025.
In this plan you will find information on the current gender equality situation at WageIndicator. It also includes how WageIndicator relates to the outside world in terms of gender. Moreover, it also includes policies that are or will be implemented to improve this situation. Many of these efforts are not limited towards gender, but also address other forms of diversity, such as ethnicity, functional impairment and age. Because all of these categories are interconnected, an intersectional attitude is necessary.
Disclaimer: Differentiating between men and women, and words derived from these categories, is unavoidable in a Gender Equality Plan. Words used to describe a specific gender refer to all who identify as such. Moreover, using these categories does not mean that non-binary people and other people who do not identify as male or female are excluded. They will be referred to by using 'non-binary' or the terms they prefer themselves.
Current situation
Demographics
WageIndicator's international team (consisting of payrollers and freelancers around the world) currently consists of 79 people, among which 44% identify as female and 56% as male. Among the 122 interns, 72% identify as female and 28% as male. WageIndicator's team of directors consists of 6 people, among which 83% identify as female and 17% as male. WageIndicator's board also consists of 6 people, among which 33% identify as female and 67% as male.
Payment
Pay levels are based on the Living Wages in a country, which act as the absolute bottom line. All workers receive equal remuneration for work of equal value, regardless of gender. The Living Wage is calculated to meet incidental medical costs. Workers are expected to be insured under their national health service and social security systems.
Hierarchical structure
Teams are usually small, task-related and multidisciplinary. There is no formalised hierarchical structure, although the team of directors is ultimately responsible.
Survey participation
Visitors of WageIndicator's websites who participate in one of its surveys are only asked for their gender when necessary. For example, knowing one's gender can be needed for research purposes. The gender of a Salary Survey respondent helps WageIndicator's researchers to compute Gender Pay Gaps.
Past and ongoing activities
In 1999, the first WageIndicator's activities were initiated by two women: Paulien Osse, a journalist, and Kea Tijdens, a labour market researcher. Their expertise and drive regarding gender issues caused them to launch an online survey on working life and wages with a strong gender component. The same applied to everything they published on the subject of working life and wages.
For example, WageIndicator enables its visitors to see the salaries in its Salary Check tool from a variety of perspectives. This allows visitors to compare earnings between occupations, between men and women and between experience groups, among other categories.
WageIndicator's ongoing database containing Statutory Minimum Wages worldwide was set up in 2006, to strengthen the position of people - mostly women - who earn their country's minimum wage. Next to that, WageIndicator set up an ongoing Living Wage database in 2014. These Living Wages do not only provide gender-neutral benchmarks for organisations, but also inform women about the income that is needed to be financially independent of the breadwinner in their households.
WageIndicator's work on labour rights, work-life balance and harassment at the workplace have also had a strong gender component throughout the years. For example, the Decisions for Life project confronted visitors with the reality that most working women face when they have to decide between work or family, or how to combine these. Moreover, sexual harrasment has been a constant topic in all WageIndicator websites and research, such as the Violence against Women at the Workplace project in Benin, Honduras, Indonesia and Moldova.
Policies
Diversity officer
To ensure that diversity in the organisation is addressed and warranted, WageIndicator has assigned a diversity officer: Director Operations Rupa Korde.
Bias awareness training
Research is done into offering bias awareness training for all people involved with WageIndicator.
Work-life balance
WageIndicator is a 24/7 organisation due to its international presence. Therefore, it offers flexible working hours to its employees. This means that as long as deadlines are met, employees can choose working hours that are convenient to them. This is consistent with the work that is performed, which is often done online, from the workers' own homes. WageIndicator also does not impose any specific timeframes for activities, tasks and meetings. However, working in the evening and at night is seen as undesirable.
Given that WageIndicator's staff is living and working around the world, team meetings might often be held outside traditional working hours. To make sure this is doable for all participants, sufficient notice must be given of the time and duration of these meetings, in order to maximise chances that individual staff members participate.
Leave (including paid sick leave) can be taken as the need arises, preferably and usually after due notice is given. Maternity/paternity and work go together well in the WageIndicator 'family': aid is provided when necessary.
A welfare fund has been set up and is in its infant stage, helping out in case of emergencies and facilitating work-related learning, whether it entails academic or professional training.
These measures should enable personalised work-life balances and allow workers to combine their tasks and professional development with their family responsibilities, if applicable.
Social safety
WageIndicator has appointed two confidential councillors: Director Operations Rupa Korde and Karen Rutter, who is not part of the team of directors. Everyone who works for WageIndicator can get in contact with them in an accessible and private manner, via their email addresses. These conversations with the councillors will not be shared in any way or form within the organisation and with other people, except when the person who approached (one of) the councillors has explicitly stated otherwise.