First municipality to be recertified for its equal pay system

Once again, the results of a review of the City of Hafnarfjörður's equal pay system show continued positive development towards pay equality within the municipality. The unexplained pay gap has now disappeared and the deviation is further reduced between audits, now at 0.1%, for women today.

Hafnarfjörður is the first municipality in Iceland to be re-certified for its equal pay system, having also been the first municipality to receive such certification in 2017. This year's certification follows an audit of the council's equal pay system, which took place on 20 May. The purpose of the audit was to carry out a maintenance audit and re-issue the certificate for the council's equal pay system.

The aim of implementing an equal pay system is to establish and maintain pay equality within the City of Hafnarfjörður and to fulfil the employer's obligations to ensure equal rights for women and men, pay them equal wages, and guarantee that they enjoy the same terms and conditions for the same or work of equal value.

With certification from the certification body, BSI in Iceland, as well as the equal pay mark from the Equality Authority, the Municipality of Hafnarfjörður can confirm that it meets the requirements set out in the equal pay standard, ÍST 85:2012. The requirements include:

• Ensure that all decisions regarding pay and conditions are documented, justified and traceable.
• Procedures, job descriptions and instructions are in place.
• Legal and other requirements are met
• Preventative measures and action plans are in place.
• The areas of responsibility and roles of key personnel are defined.
• That pay decisions reflect that the same pay is paid for comparable work.

 
BSI's summary in Iceland states, among other things, about the new assessment:

„An assessment of the City of Hafnarfjörður's equal pay system showed that it is effective and designed to ensure equality in pay setting. The strength of the equal pay system lies in the management's commitment to continually improve.”

First township to receive recertification of equal pay system

Hafnarfjörður has been granted recertification of its equal pay system, the first municipality in Iceland to achieve this milestone.

Once again, the results of an audit of Hafnarfjörður's equal pay system have shown a positive trend towards equal pay within the municipality. Unexplained wage differences are no longer evident and deviations have fallen even further between audits, currently standing at 0.11% in favour of women.

The fact that no unexplained pay difference has been measured for the second year in a row is extremely positive. Unsurprisingly, we are extremely proud of this achievement.