Friday Coffee Talk from Planet Fair

Margret and Henrike discuss this year's World at Work conference. One of the big topics at the conference is that many companies have great difficulties in finding new employees at all levels of qualification. In the U.S. in particular, companies are therefore looking at how to optimize reward packages and attract skilled workers. Because unlike in most European countries, US-American employees don't automatically get the benefit of health care or paid parental leave. But how could this reality be changed for the better?

Margret and Henrike discuss what the real state of equality is for French women. What laws are in place? How is pay equity measured? Is everything as progressive as it looks from the outside? Or do some things seem better than they really are?  

Margret is the host of this episode and is joined by Katinka Brose from the Fair Pay Innovation Lab. They discuss a fair pay lawsuit filed by a German media maker who went to court against her employer in 2017. But what impact will this case have on jurisprudence in Germany, where fair pay lawsuits can be counted on two hands so far? To what extent is the type of contract decisive here, and how can gender discrimination in pay be determined?

Margret and Henrike discuss the many positive benefits of fair pay, how for example happier employees make for happier customers, and other more long-term domino effects. They also talk about the head start Iceland already has because equal pay started to be implemented earlier. Henrike, as always, takes every opportunity to talk about her favorite topic, money. And in the eighth and a half minutes, Margret spots an eleventh domino effect...

Margret and Henrike are joined by the Diversity & Inclusion expert, Stephen Frost, who is not only an old college friend of Margret’s, he was the first officer of inclusion at the London Olympics, founded the impact-led consultancy “Included” in 2012. Over coffee with Margrét and Henrike Stephen describes his remarkable journey: from a lobbyist for Diversity & Inclusion, wondering right from the beginning: Why wouldn't we want equal pay?.

Margret and Henrike discuss why companies always become unsure after the first attempt - because they are afraid of the results of the pay analysis. Often, they want to keep their fair pay efforts a secret at the beginning. But what exactly are they insecure about? And how can they be made less concerned about the analysis?

After a crazy week, Margrét and Henrike talk about a white paper that our amazing data addict from Iceland has been working on with her colleagues. The paper has the fantastic and promising title: There Are No Colourblind Models in a Colorful World. And it deals with such important questions as to how to apply AI successfully to HR, how it can change people’s lives, and how all our data reflect the past and its systematic lack of women. Super fascinating!

Margret and Henrike discuss how the diversity in workforces is reflected in working time arrangements and what effects this has on fair pay. Working time and fair pay are interlinked, but how exactly? Especially overtime or shifts and related pay and allowances have an impact on the pay gap. But is this fair? And how does this affect pay gaps?

Margret and Henrike discuss benchmarking. But how is fair pay compared? Does a company benchmark itself to other companies, or should it measure success based on its own standards? How important is salary when "more money" isn't even the most important reason to change a job, but most employees rather care about their careers? What impact has Covid had on salaries?

Margret and Henrike are joined by the strategy and policy expert Katinka Brose working at FPI with Henrike, and discuss many insights into the latest developments in European legislation. They talk about the International Pay Transparency Conference, where experts from around the world discussed the latest developments last week - and agreed on one thing in particular: More sanctions are needed.

Margret and Henrike discuss the International Pay Transparency Conference that took place on July 28, 2021. Margret and Henrike talk about major insights of the conference, best practices, and successful corporate strategies to close pay gaps - and not letting them open up again.

Margret and Henrike discuss the International Fair Pay Conference, in which Margret will participate (via videocall) as an expert. The focus of the conference will be on the new EU directive on fair pay, which is intended to ensure greater transparency across Europe. But what does transparency actually mean?