EQUAL-SALARY certification

Demonstrate your commitment to fairness. Get EQUAL-SALARY certified.

The bottom line is pay. Prove that you are paying employees fairly across gender, ethnicity, and intersectional identities.

Equal pay is not just a human right. It is a business imperative. There is extensive evidence on the benefits of equality and a diverse workforce that employees expect organisations to deliver.

By committing to diversity and equality, you improve both your employer and company brand, enabling you to attract and retain top talent. Additionally, it attracts positive attention from new customers and enhances your reputation among investors.

Your commitment starts with the EQUAL-SALARY certification. It demonstrates that you are paying all employees equal pay for equal work. The EQUAL-SALARY Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that issues the certificate based on a consistent scientific approach. From this process, you will also gain valuable insights into opportunities for improvement across the organisation.

The EQUAL-SALARY certification puts you at the forefront of real change, leading the way to eliminate unfair pay gaps. Are you ready to join the movement?

Become EQUAL-SALARY certified

July 2020 marked a turning point for large companies in Switzerland with the entry in force of the amended Federal Act on Gender Equality. The amendments of the law bind companies with more than 100 employees to conduct an equal pay analysis by 30 June 2021. Have you conducted this analysis yet?

Learn more about how we can help 


Certification options

 
 
Gender

The EQUAL-SALARY Gender Certification aims to identify and call out systemic inequalities and discrimination to ensure that women and men employed by the organisation are paid fairly for work of equal value and have access to the same opportunities regardless of gender.  

 
 
Ethnicity

The EQUAL-SALARY Ethnicity Certification aims to identify and call out systemic inequalities and discrimination based on ethnic identity to ensure that all the employees of the organisation are paid fairly for work of equal value and have access to the same opportunities regardless of their ethnicity.  

 
 
Gender & Ethnicity

The EQUAL-SALARY Gender & Ethnicity Certification aims to identify and call out systemic inequalities and discrimination based on intersectional identities of ethnicity and gender, to ensure that all employees of the organisation are paid fairly for work of equal value and have access to the same opportunities regardless of their gender or ethnicity.

Fairness is fundamental in creating an engaged and high performing workforce. How can people feel valued knowing or believing that someone else is paid differently for doing the same work?

Johannes (Joop) SmitsPeople & Organisation Director

Benefits of EQUAL-SALARY certification

 
 
Confidence

Independent certification by the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation based on PwC’s findings.

 

 
 
Credibility

Focused and consistently applied methodology for the certification. You will have certainty that you are applying a robust, and tried and tested methodology that was developed in Switzerland.

 
 
Differentiation

Obtaining the certification earns you a place among the best employers that do not just talk about their commitment to equality but can actually demonstrate it.


How to become certified?

Statistical analysis

The company uploads employee data onto the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation’s secured IT platform. All data is pseudonymised before being analysed by PwC. The compensation data are destroyed at the end of the procedure.

A statistical regression model is used to analyse the difference in pay for equal work between genders, ethnicities, or intersectional identities. To proceed to step 2, the difference needs to be ≤5% and the regression coefficient ≥90%.

A list of individual employees who are underpaid by >5% is provided so that the company can explain this and/or prepare a remediation plan.

EQUAL-SALARY and PwC partnership

 

On-site visit by PwC

PwC’s EQUAL-SALARY team carries out an on-site visit to assess:

  • management’s commitment to equal treatment
  • integration of equal pay and opportunity strategies in HR processes and policies
  • employees’ perception of their company’s practices on equal treatment

Certification

Depending on the result of PwC’s visit, the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation grants the EQUAL-SALARY certificate. This gives the company the right to use the EQUAL-SALARY label.

The EQUAL-SALARY label can be used on all company communications, such as
the website, recruitment ads, letterheads and annual reports.

Monitoring visits

The EQUAL-SALARY certification is valid for three years.

During this period, the certified company undergoes two monitoring visits to demonstrate its ongoing commitment and fulfilment of actions to apply a policy of fair, non-discriminatory treatment.

Frequently asked questions

What makes Equal-Salary Certification a uniquely valuable business asset?

A reputation for high ethical standards enables companies to attract the best customers, staff and investors. Equal-Salary Certification backs up your reputation with objective evidence that you’re delivering the bottom line of equality: equal pay for men and women.

Equal-Salary Certification is credible because it does only one thing, but does it well: it confirms that your organisation meets a fixed standard in terms of equal pay. It’s not a comparative benchmark, but an unvarying standard applied equally and rigorously to all candidates, whatever their size, industry or prestige. You either have it or you don’t.

Equal-Salary Certification is rapidly becoming the gold standard of pay equality, with more and more organisations realising it’s worth its weight in gold.

Who needs Equal-Salary Certification?

Any organisation seeking objective, independent confirmation of its commitment to equal pay can benefit from Equal-Salary Certification The process is the same, whatever the size of the organisation or the industry it operates in. The price depends on the size and complexity of the organisation that’s being certified, not on the quality or level of certification granted. This is always the same, whether you’re a small local business or a large multinational operating in many territories around the world.

How is Equal-Salary Certification different from the labels offered by other providers?

Equal-Salary Certification is narrower in scope than the benchmarks offered by other providers – which is an advantage because it sends out a much clearer message. In fact Equal-Salary Certification isn’t even a benchmark: rather than ranking a candidate in comparison with its peers, certification confirms that a company meets an absolute, very high standard of pay equality.

Equal-Salary Certification focuses on a clearly defined parameter using a highly objective and rigorous process. This means the result is not diluted: you either have it or you don’t. Equal-Salary Certification puts you in the elite of pay equality – no ifs or buts.

Are we too small for certification?

The Equal-Salary Certification process can basically be applied to organisations of any size, from small local operation to large multinational. It’s true that a rigorous certification process comes at a cost, but the cost depends on the size and complexity of your set-up rather than the ‘grade’ of certification you’re granted – which is the same, whatever your size or wherever in the world you operate.

Anyone with Equal-Salary Certification, whatever their size, is part of the elite of equal pay organisations. And that earns them a reputation for high ethical standards that will attract the best customers, employees and investors.

What does Equal-Salary Certification cost?

The price of Equal-Salary Certification is scaled to the size and complexity of the candidate’s set-up, not to the ‘grade’ of certification awarded. Whatever your size, Equal-Salary Certification demonstrates that you meet the same high standards of pay equality as any other organisation with the certification.

Naturally such a rigorous, multi-tier process has a price – admittedly higher than many of the relative equality benchmarks in the marketplace. But more and more companies are realising that certification is worth paying for because it’s independent recognition that you meet a fixed global standard of equal pay – if you like, the gold standard of equality.


Contact us

Johannes (Joop) Smits

Johannes (Joop) Smits

Partner, People and Organisation, PwC Switzerland

Tel: +41 58 792 91 64

David Szollosi

David Szollosi

TLS Manager, PwC Switzerland

Tel: +41 58 792 94 89

Alexander Skumiewski

Alexander Skumiewski

Manager, People & Organisation, PwC Switzerland

Tel: 058 792 92 94