Worked example: pay gap analysis

Pay gap analysis is applied to the difference in earnings between groups of workers employed by an organization. It can be applied to groups defined by ethnicity, gender, or some other classification. Pay gap reporting is a legislative requirement in some countries and economic sectors, and is increasingly seen as a desirable form of disclosure for publicly quoted companies. In the UK, public, private, and voluntary sector organizations with 250 or more employees are required to report annually on their gender pay gap - the difference in average pay between men and women, typically expressed as a percentage.

Data stored in your Sage People system can be used to prepare indicative pay gap analysis for internal use, and can help identify areas for further investigation. To meet legislative reporting requirements you must use definitive data supplied with the help of your organization's payroll provider.

This example tells you how to create a range of reports for gender pay gap analysis:

  • Two salary reports, requiring a new salary history custom report type:

    • Gender pay gap based on annual salary.

    • Gender pay gap based on hourly rates of pay.

      Requires a new formula field to calculate the hourly rate of pay.

  • A total remuneration report showing the gender pay gap using salary and projected bonus data.

  • Male pay against performance.

  • Female pay against performance.

  • Percentage difference in pay between male and female.

    Includes creating formulas within the report to calculate difference in value and percentage difference.

  • Gender pay disparity

    Includes creating a cross block summary formula within the report.

The example covers the creation of all required additional formulas and the new report type.

The example also tells you how to create a dashboard to host and display the underlying report data.

To take full advantage of the reporting examples your org must be using Sage People to provide team member, employment, and salary data, and to provide performance monitoring.

Create a new report type

To enable you to create the reports using salary history and related data you must first create a new custom report type.

Follow the instructions to create a new custom report type using the following information:

  1. Complete the fields in Step 1 Define the Custom Report Type as follows:

    Field What to enter
    Primary Object

    Salary History

    Report Type Label

    Salary History

    Report Type Name

    Salary History

    Description

    Report type to support gender pay gap analysis

    Store in Category

    Employees

    Deployment Status

    Deployed

  2. Select Next.

  3. In Step 2 Define Reports Record Set leave the primary object as Salary History.

  4. Select Save.

    Sage People displays the summary page for the new custom report type.

  5. In the Fields Available for Reports section select Edit Layout

    Sage People displays the Edit Custom Report Type page with the fields from the Salary History object listed in the Field Layout Properties section.

  6. On the right of the page select Add fields related via lookup:

    Partial screenshot showing add fields related via lookup selected

  7. In the dialog select Employment to display the fields in the Employment Record object, then choose Select All.

  8. Scroll down the list of selected fields and beside Team Member select view related fields:

    Screenshot showing dialog for add fields related to salary history via lookup, with view related fields selected for team member

  9. In the displayed list of Team Member fields choose Select All then select OK.

  10. Select Save.

The Salary History custom report type is now available to use.

Create new formula fields

The reports in this example use a range of new formula fields to extract and display the data. You can create the formulas needed as part of creating each individual report, or you can create all the formula fields in advance and then call on them when you create each report .

Creating a formula field starts with these steps:

  1. Go to Setup and select the Object Manager tab.

  2. In Quick Find enter employment and select the label for Employment Record.

  3. On the Employment Record page select Fields & Relationships.

  4. On the Fields & Relationships page select New.

  5. In Step 1 Choose the field type select Formula and then select Next.

Now follow the instructions for the individual formulas.

Define quartiles for hourly rates

Pay gap analysis gives more useful results when rates of pay are divided into bands, with the highest rates in the top band and the lowest in the bottom band. For this example, hourly rates are assigned to one of four quartiles. The highest rates are assigned to the top quartile, and lowest rates to the bottom. Defined quartiles are used to support an hourly rate quartile formula.

To define quartiles:

  1. Go to the App Launcher and select Employment History.

  2. On the Employment History list view select the List view controls picklist and choose New:

    Screenshot showing list view controls picklist with New selected

  3. In the New List View dialog:

    • Enter a name for the list view such as Hourly rate.

    • Select the radio button to set who can see the list view.

  4. Select Save.

  5. In the Filters panel on the right of the page:

    1. Select Filter by Owner and choose All employment history:

      Screenshot showing Filter by owner, all employment history selected

    2. Select Done.

    3. Select Add Filter.

    4. Select the Active field, operator equals, value True.

    5. Select Done.

    6. Select Add Filter.

    7. Select the Record Type field. operator equals, value Active.

    8. Select Done.

    9. To limit the report to a specific country, add a filter for the Country field. Set the operator to contains, and the value to the country name used in your org, for example UK. Select Done.

    10. Select Save.

    Screenshot showing completed filters panel

  6. Select the List view controls picklist and choose Select Fields to Display.

  7. In the Select Fields to Display dialog in the list of Available fields select Hourly rate and the chevron > to move it to the list of Visible Fields.

    Add any other fields you want to display on the list view to give it context. For example, Team Member, Gender, Start Date.

  8. Select Save.

    The list view updates to include an Hourly rate column.

  9. Select the Hourly rate column heading to sort by hourly rate values.

  10. Scroll to the bottom of the list and note the number of values, using the record counter at the left of the page:

    Screenshot showing list view with record item number highlighted

  11. Divide the number by 4 to find the number of hourly rate records to include in each quartile. In this example with 248 records, each quartile contains 248 / 4 = 62 records.

  12. Find and record the hourly rate for each quartile point. In this example:

    1. Record 62 value = 15.38

    2. Record 124 value = 20.33

    3. Record 186 value = 26.57

You can now use the quartile point values to create the hourly rate quartile formula field.

Create reports

Creating a report starts with these steps:

  1. Select the App Launcher, search for and select Reports.

  2. On the Reports page select New Report.

  3. On the Create Report dialog under Category select All.

Now follow the instructions for the individual reports.

Create a dashboard

A dashboard enables you to display the report data in chart form and make it available through the HR portal.

  1. Select the App Launcher, search for and select Dashboards.

  2. On the Reports page select New Dashboard.

  3. On the New Dashboard dialog, complete the fields as follows:

    Field What to enter
    Name

    A business question the dashboard seeks to answer. The name is displayed as the title of the dashboard in the HR Manager portal. For example:

    Do we have a gender pay gap?

    Description

    A meaningful description for the dashboard to eanable easy identification. The description is displayed as a subheading on the dashboard. For example:

    Gender pay gap analysis from multiple reports.

    Folder

    Select Select Folder and choose the folder you want to hold the dashboard.

  4. Select Create.

    Sage People displays the dashboard framework for you to start adding reports:

    Screenshot showing empty pay gap analysis dashboard ready to add components

  5. Select + Widget and choose the type of component you want to add, typically Chart or Table:

    Screenshot showing dasboard chart or table widget type selected

    Sage People displays the Select Report dialog.

  6. Navigate to the first report you want to display on the dashboard and select Select:

    Screenshot showing select report dialog with a reposrt selected

    Sage People displays the Add Widget dialog for you to choose how you want the dashboard to display the data in the report:

    SCreenshot showing the add widget dialog for the female pay vs performance report

  7. Choose the options you want for the display and select Add:

    Screenshot showing add widget dialog with settings for female pay against performance report

  8. Repeat the process to add the report data you want to display on the dashboard.

Which chart types are best for the pay gap analysis reports?

Screenshot showing completed pay gap analysis dashboard displayed in the HR Manager portal

The dashboard Add Widget dialog enables you to choose the chart type, title, axis settings, chart theme and other details for each chart. If your report includes a chart you can use that, or define a different chart type for dashboard display.

Suggested chart settings for each of the pay gap analysis reports:

  • Gender pay gap analysis

    Horizontal bar. Use the chart settings from the report.

  • Total pay

    Donut

  • Pay against performance

    Scatter chart

    X-Axis: Average Current Salary: FTE Annual Amount Reporting

    Y-Axis: Average Performance Rating Score

  • Percentage difference in pay

    Because of the single value calculated by the report , a chart adds little value.

  • Gender pay disparity

    Horizontal bar. Use the chart settings from the report.