Closing the gap: The role of HR in fair and equitable pay

As HR professionals, we spend a lot of time talking about fairness. We design frameworks, write policies, and build systems intended to create equitable workplaces. But when it comes to pay, one of the most tangible measures of how an organisation values its people inequity persists.

According to the Ministry for Women, New Zealand's gender pay gap has narrowed to approximately 5.2%, the lowest level recorded since measurements began in 1998. That's progress worth acknowledging. But averages can be misleading and often miss the nuance of the full story. Significant inequities remain for wāhine Māori, Pacific women, and those in senior leadership and male-dominated industries.

We need to recognise that equitable remuneration remains both a people and a business issue. As organisations navigate workforce shortages, changing employee expectations, and growing demand for transparency, HR professionals are playing a critical role in shaping fair, sustainable, and inclusive workplaces.

In my experience, pay inequity rarely traces back to a single decision or a deliberate choice. It builds quietly through an offer made slightly below range because "that's what the candidate asked for," a promotion delayed until the next review cycle, or a stretch opportunity offered informally to one person and not another.

Over time, these small moments compound. And by the time the data surfaces an issue, the gap has often been years in the making.

This puts HR in a position of genuine influence and with that comes responsibility.

HR’s influence on fairer pay

HR is the centre of the systems that shape employee outcomes. Think recruitment, remuneration frameworks, promotion pathways, leadership development, performance management, and workforce planning. The influence of HR, matters.

Research from The British Psychological Society found something striking: HR professionals offered higher salaries to female candidates simply when they were explicitly reminded that reducing inequality formed part of their role. Think about what that tells us. The bias wasn't malicious it was unconscious. And it shifted when awareness was brought into the room. That's both confronting and encouraging, because it means the decisions we make every day genuinely matter.

While HR professionals may not always make final remuneration decisions, they have the opportunity and power to shape the frameworks and governance behind those decisions. This includes:

• establishing salary bands and remuneration structures 

• supporting consistent job evaluation processes 

• benchmarking roles against market data 

• reviewing promotion and progression pathways 

• auditing remuneration decisions 

• providing workforce insights to leadership teams 

When remuneration decisions are evidence-based and aligned to clear frameworks rather than negotiation confidence or historical salary expectations, organisations build more consistent and objective pay practices. This is particularly important in recruitment, where research has shown that salary negotiations and previous earnings disclosures can contribute to inequitable outcomes.

Career progression equally requires attention. Transparent promotion criteria, consistent performance frameworks, and equitable access to leadership development all contribute to stronger long-term remuneration equity.

Transparency and consistency are critical. Organisations with clear remuneration frameworks are better positioned to identify inequities early and reduce bias in decision-making.

Looking beyond the data

Pay equity data must be viewed as part of a broader workforce picture, rather than a standalone metric. Looking only at an overall gender pay gap figure may not reflect where inequities are actually occurring within an organisation.

I've seen organisations with relatively balanced overall remuneration outcomes that still have a lack of women at the C-Suite level or in senior leadership, a lack of progression opportunities for those women, or wider disparities across specific business units or occupational groups. When you look closer, the issue often isn't starting salaries, it's progression pathways. Even in industries with high female participation, women are often underrepresented in senior and specialist positions, contributing to ongoing disparities.

It's worth asking ourselves honestly: how many of our organisations could explain, clearly and confidently, why two people in comparable roles are paid differently? If the answer isn't straightforward, that's where the work begins.

HR professionals can support stronger organisational understanding by keeping thorough records and reviewing:

• pay differences across genders and ethnicities

• representation at leadership and decision-making levels

• promotion and progression patterns

• retention and turnover trends

• participation in leadership and development opportunities

• starting salary consistency across comparable roles.

New Zealand does not currently have mandatory private-sector gender pay gap reporting requirements like some overseas jurisdictions. We know that mandatory pay gap reporting has a definable impact on decreasing the gender pay gap. Until this is introduced - the absence of a mandate doesn't mean the absence of expectation.  When requested for information surrounding pay gap statistics, HR needs to be ready with answers, grounded in real data.

We cannot have a genuine conversation about pay equity in Aotearoa New Zealand without talking about ethnicity.  Viewing gender in isolation risks missing where the deepest inequities actually sit. For HR professionals, this means taking an intersectional approach, recognising that these factors do not exist in isolation and that their intersection is essential to understand.

Wāhine Māori and Pacific women continue to experience significantly larger pay gaps and lower median earnings than the national average. These aren't abstract statistics. They reflect real barriers occupational segregation, limited access to leadership pathways, and systemic factors that compound over careers.

HR professionals play an important role in challenging these patterns through inclusive workforce strategies, equitable talent management practices, and culturally responsive leadership approaches.

Moving from intention to action

We all know equitable remuneration matters. The real challenge is translating intention into measurable, sustained action.

The organisations making genuine progress are typically those that:

• regularly review workforce and remuneration data

• build leadership accountability

• increase transparency around remuneration frameworks

• review systems through an equity lens

• invest in inclusive leadership capability

• continuously monitor progress over time

Equitable remuneration cannot be achieved through a single pay review or policy update. It requires ongoing commitment, reflection, and a willingness to challenge long-standing workplace practices and assumptions.

Pay equity isn't a box to tick or a metric to report on once a year. It's a reflection of the values an organisation chooses to act on or quietly overlook.

As HR professionals, we have more influence over these outcomes than we sometimes recognise. The question isn't whether we care about fairness. It's whether we're willing to do the harder work of examining our own systems, challenging comfortable assumptions, and holding ourselves accountable to genuine progress.

That's where the real shift happens not just in policy documents, but in the everyday decisions we make and the standards we choose to hold.