On the 13th October, the Council of Ministers approved the regulation on equal pay for men and women. The regulation establishes a series of obligations for companies, including the preparation of a salary register for all staff, including management and senior officials. In this way, an attempt is being made to eliminate (or at least reduce) the wage gap between the sexes that exists in our country, which, according to the National Institute of Statistics, stands at 22%; a percentage that will be reduced to 13% if the statistical effects are cleaned up.

The wage register, which must be compiled by all companies by the 14th April, must contain information on the average amount of all salaries broken down by gender and occupational category, as well as allowances and other extra-wage payments. Likewise, if differences of more than 25% are contained in the averages of the two, the organisation must provide objective reasons to justify the inequalities. The task of explaining the imbalances, according to the experts consulted, is giving rise to much concern in companies.

Alfredo Aspra, a partner at Andersen, says that the measure could bring a lot of bureaucracy, especially for those entities that have more complex and variable remuneration systems. He also stresses that salary increases can occur for reasons other than the tasks entrusted, such as seniority bonuses, efficiency improvements, performance awards or availability. In these cases, as they are more subjective concepts, "the company must justify them in detail".

The full article can be read in El País.