TrinityP3 Reacts to WGEA Data on Gender Pay Gap: "We Need to Do More"
The spotlight has again been shone on our industry’s ongoing pay equity gap with today’s release of the latest 2023-24 WGEA pay gap figures. Leading marketing management and pitch consultancy TrinityP3 says the data highlights the persistent pay gap across both advertising agencies and media owners, as well as the need for management and corporate boards to do more to close the pay gap.
Today marks the second consecutive year that the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has released figures on the gender pay gap for private sector employers with a workforce of 100 or more employees.
The annual data drop has again revealed that there are pay gaps as large as 20%+ in some of Australia’s major media companies and a gap of anywhere between 10% and 27% for many of the big multinational advertising holding groups.
WGEA’s latest figures show that the national average gender pay gap across all industries was 21.8%. While many of Australia’s highest-profile media and adland businesses were below this average, Lydia Feely, general manager of TrinityP3, says there remains significant work to be done in our industry.
“This is the second year where we have seen the WGEA pay gap numbers come out and clearly there are businesses who have spent the past 12 months working on addressing issues in their businesses around the gender pay gap,” said Lydia.
“That being said, the numbers put the problem front and centre. What is clear is that many adland and media businesses have a significant difference in how they pay their staff, based on gender, and we need to do more to close the ongoing pay gap.”
Another positive this year, Lydia noted, was the growing number of companies who have published their own pay gap reports—for example, Domain, Nine and REA — which provide far greater context to the WGEA figures.
“It’s good to see some companies, such as real estate classifieds Domain and REA, as well as News Corp, Nine, IPG Mediabrands, and Howatson+Co, publishing additional statements and giving context around their pay gap results," she said.
“This helps employees and stakeholders understand what they are doing to address the pay gap and lets them highlight the progress they are making. It surprises me that, in the second year of this reporting, so many companies are still allowing these numbers to go out but not taking the opportunity, WGEA gives you, to make an employer statement. Making a statement and providing context all help show that you are taking this issue seriously.”
TrinityP3 argues that companies must do more, including actively benchmarking themselves, to ensure they aren’t slipping behind others. “We know that companies who benchmark and track their performance do better in areas such as the gender pay gap,” said Lydia. “Once you establish where you are, you also then need to look at what other ‘like for like’ businesses are doing and if they are doing better than you, ask yourself: what have they done that, perhaps, I'm not doing.”
The WGEA numbers also showed that companies that had clear policies on the gender pay gap and who undertook regular payroll analysis performed better when it came to the gender pay gaps they reported to WGEA.
Ensuring the workplace is safe and fair for all is an issue that TrinityP3 has actively campaigned on. Three years ago the consultancy led the advertising industry in asking advertising agencies to sign statutory declarations around some of their key policies, especially in regards to workplace harassment and the use of non-disclosure agreements, as part of the pitching process for ad business.
“If the industry is committed to being fair and inclusive, then closing the ongoing gender pay gap should be a high priority year round, not just the day the WEGA report lands. For real change to occur this needs to be an ongoing effort by everyone from the board and C-Suite down,” said Darren Woolley, CEO of TrinityP3.
