‘Before you post any women photos today, can your company commit to equal pay policies?’

Buddy Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Mifsud on Wednesday highlighted how companies should turn their attentions to adjusting internal policies to remove the gender pay gap, instead of only giving flowers to female employees on Women’s Day.

He noted that since Wednesday (today) is International Women’s Day, there tend to be a number of companies and managers that provide flowers to their female staff members.

“Many of us might not think too much about it. It is just a gesture after all,” he said.

However, he touched on a discussion he had with Fe/male Switch CEO Violette Bonenkamp on the day before, when the start-up game for women was celebrating its one-year anniversary, as the topic was brought to light.

Mr Mifsud said: “Before you post any women photos today, can your company commit to equal pay policies? Can you declare that your gender pay gap, even for executives, is trending towards the non-existing?”

He also questioned: “Do your internal policies give growth and upskilling opportunities equally? Do you encourage women to take risks in your organisations? Do you provide women role models for juniors to follow?”

The gender pay gap remains an issue at a number of workplaces, with women earning 13 per cent on average less per hour than men in the EU, a figure which has only changed “minimally” in the last decade. Business leaders have also called for Governments and decision-makers to push places of work towards reducing the pay gap from the top, which will be a “big help” towards removing it altogether. Last month, a new EU Directive on Pay Transparency was announced, entitling job-seekers the right to know what their salary is ahead of employment.

Mr Mifsud remarked that at Buddy, they are not only “committed to ensuring” that there is no pay gap, but also “to empower companies to pay their people right and ensure that they are given growth opportunities”.

Touching on his experience at the Global Payroll Association’s summit in London last week, He said that there was a “very brave woman” explaining how in her role as a payroller, she was “blamed when things go wrong, not empower to learn – out-of-pocket learning – and not valued”.

“Payroll is an industry full of women. We need to shine a light on the value you bring, to your senior managers and male colleagues, as after all, without you, none of them can receive their inflated paycheque,” he concluded.