Gender pay equity principles

The following describes how the gender pay equity principles are reflected across VGSO's GEAP:

Principle (a) - equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. Focus Area 1 address this through biannual pay gap reporting disaggregated by level, tenure and age group, and salary controls to reduce unexplained variance between employees in equivalent roles. The invisible workload audit in Focus Area 3 considers any gendered variance in non-billable work, which has direct implications for pay equity and career progression.

Principle (b) - employment and pay practices free from bias - is integrated in focus area 1 which introduces bias-resistant job advertising, unconscious bias checklists for hiring managers, and remuneration decision controls. Focus Area 2 embeds bias mitigation into selection and performance development moderation processes, and builds leader capability to recognise and interrupt gendered assumptions through checklists and inclusive leadership training.

Principle (c) - requiring pay systems and employment practices to be transparent and understandable is accounted for via biannual pay gap reports with clear remediation outcomes and tracking gendered patterns in internal versus external appointments. Focus Area 2 builds on this through an annual gender equality dashboard published internally, while Focus Area 3 ensures employees understand their entitlements through proactive communication and on-demand guides.

Principle (d) acknowledges that caring responsibilities affect how employees participate in the workforce, and that pay and employment practices must account for this. Focus Area 3 responds through the ParentLink program, normalising parental and carer's leave uptake across all genders, and making part-time and job-share options explicit in role design and advertising. Further, VGSO's newly formed culture and behaviour framework - Our Compass - explicitly references the organisational commitment to flexibility and work-life balance and recognising and considering each other's individual circumstances in the Act with Care pillar.

Principle (e) requires solutions that are collectively developed and built to last. VGSO's GEAP embeds gender equity into core organisational processes, including recruitment, pay decisions, performance moderation and workforce reporting. Multi-year success measures, defined remediation timeframes and biannual ELT reporting are designed to maintain momentum and accountability over time.

Principle (f) recognises that employees, unions and employers must work together toward mutually agreed outcomes. This plan was shaped by direct employee consultation, the findings of which informed the priority focus areas and actions. Ongoing transparency through the annual gender equality dashboard and published remediation outcomes supports continued employee engagement with the plan's progress.