New Gender Pay Regulations Should Be a Catalyst for Change

Proposed changes to the EEO-1 (the Employer Information Report), which could go into effect September 2017 and specify the pay rate for all employees categorized by gender and race, will give the EEOC greater visibility into pay data. In Great Britain, the Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations require businesses to calculate the difference in pay between like-titled men andshutterstock_241763146 copywomen. This goes into effect April 2017.

Both of these regulations, regardless of their intent and all arguments of their effectiveness aside, will require a lot of businesses to change how they collect data and the type they collect. For many companies, it will require them to start collecting data for the first time.

These changes highlight a growing need for organizations to have better insight (read: data) into their own organizations. Much of what we at Brandon Hall Group have focused on regarding data has been improvement of data collection and usage to drive better business results. However, the other reason for data collection is compliance, and that is an area in which companies believe they are strong; two-thirds of respondents to our 2016 HCM Measurement and Analytics Study said they  were moderately to very effective at analyzing data for legal and regulatory compliance.

Two-thirds of companies feeling prepared is good, and legal and compliance was the area they believed they were analytically strong. But that is still not a very high percentage. And of course, the data they are monitoring and analyzing is for current regulations. Changes to the legal landscape can drastically alter what data you should be collecting, how it is stored, and how you should be analyzing it.

Merely keeping up with changes as they happen is not enough to protect organizations. Companies like G4S Secure Solutions have extensive training on EEO procedures and policies, and as a result have had 95 consecutive successful Compliance Reviews by the Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Their commitment to monitoring their own status in terms of diversity and inclusion means they are fully prepared for any changes to regulations, as they can easily see where they stand and thus make course corrections as needed.

When asked in Brandon Hall Group’s 2015 Wage and Labor Law Compliance survey, half of organizations said they reviewed pay regulations once a year or less. If your company doesn’t know where it stands in regard to compliance, it makes it very difficult to make changes quickly in order to make sure you stay within the confines of new regulations.

Standard data governance and best practices regarding employee data security and privacy could be overlooked due to some organizations’ habit of waiting until the last minute to comply with regulations. Instead, organizations that will be affected by these changes should use this as an opportunity to renew, revamp, or possibly just start their people data analysis efforts.

These regulations will not be the isolated events. As we become a more data-centric society and workforce, new regulations (and changes to existing regulations) must occur, and much of those changes will be in regard to the collection, storage, security, and use of people data. The best move you can make right now is to begin building the foundation of a proper organization-wide analytics effort, so you will be prepared for these regulations before they occur.

Cliff Stevenson, Principal Analyst, Workforce Management, Brandon Hall Group

@CliffordDarrell

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Mike Cooke

Chief Executive Officer of Brandon Hall Group Mike Cooke Prior to joining Brandon Hall Group, Mike Cooke was the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of AC Growth. Mike held leadership and executive positions for the majority of his career, at which he was responsible for steering sales and marketing teams to drive results and profitability. His background includes more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing, management, and operations in the research, consulting, software and technology industries. Mike has extensive experience in sales, marketing and management having worked for several early high-growth emerging businesses and has implemented technology systems to support various critical sales, finance, marketing and client service functions. He is especially skilled in organizing the sales and service strategy to fully support a company’s growth strategy. The concept of growth was an absolute to Mike and a motivator in starting AC Growth, in order to help organizations achieve research driven results. Most recently, Mike was the VP and General Manager of Field Operations at Bersin & Associates, a global analyst and consulting services firm focused on all areas of enterprise learning, talent management and talent acquisition. Tasked with leading the company’s global expansion, Mike led all sales operations worldwide. During Mike’s tenure, the company has grown into a multi-national firm, conducting business in over 45 countries with over 4,500 multi-national organizations. Mike started his career at MicroVideo Learning Systems in 1992, eventually holding a senior management position and leading all corporate sales before founding Dynamic Minds. Mike was CEO and Co-Founder of Dynamic Minds, a custom developer of software programs, working with clients like Goldman Sachs, Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill and Merrill Lynch. Also, Mike worked for Oddcast, a leading provider of customer experience and marketing solutions, where he held a senior management position leading the company into new markets across various industries. Mike also serves on the Advisory Board for Carbon Solutions America, an independent sustainability consulting and carbon management firm that specializes in the design and implementation of greenhouse reduction and sustainability plans as well as managing the generation of carbon and renewal energy and energy efficiency credits. Mike attended University of Phoenix, studying Business Administration and Finance. He has also completed executive training at the Chicago Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.

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