"Pay is a key part of the bigger picture"
Work on this year's pay survey is now in full swing. Required under the Discrimination Act, the purpose of the survey is to detect unfair pay differences.
"Salary is one of the most important factors in determining whether a person is satisfied with their employer. KTH wants to attract competent employees – and of course also wants them to stay," Petas, coordinator of the salary survey at the Equality Office, says.
The survey is carried out in collaboration between the HR department, the Equality Office and the trade unions. The HR department conducts an initial analysis of the salary data using the Analyskraft tool, where all salaries are recorded.
"The analysis tool flags salaries that deviate in various ways. The HR department reviews these salaries and can then see if there are historical reasons why someone's salary is at a certain level," Petas says.
One example of such historical reasons could be that people who previously held managerial roles at KTH retain their managerial salary even after stepping down from those roles.
The tool can also highlight lagging wage development.
"For example, a woman whose salary is low even though she has been employed at KTH for a long time, and a new employee who has a higher salary that is more in line with the market," Petas says.
Once employers and unions have analysed all salary groups, the HR department compiles a list of deviating salaries and sends it to the schools.
"It is then up to the schools and the organisational support service to correct the pay gap. There is an obligation to address unfair pay gaps," Petas says.
Challenges in the work
The pay survey is time-consuming but not difficult to carry out, Petas says, but they emphasises that the legislation focuses mainly on identifying low pay for women and not all the factors that can affect salary.
"For example, racist prejudices in society can affect wages in a similar way to gender inequality. However, we cannot map pay by ethnicity because we are not allowed to keep such records," Petas says.
At the initiative of the union, a reverse analysis was also carried out, which highlighted low wages among men.
"This type of analysis cannot be done automatically in the analysis tool, which means that it is not carried out every year," Petas says.
Petas adds that cooperation between employers and trade unions is strong and that they often agree on interpretations.
"There is a functioning and vibrant cooperation, which is a sign of health for the organisation. The unions also work very well together on this," Petas says.
Text: Marianne Norén
