An unbiased tool for equal pay and confidence building | Best Practice by Wüest Partner
As a partnership-based company, Wüest Partner is founded on mutual respect and trust. The Equal Pay Calculator, which was developed in-house, not only builds on Wüest Partner’s core competencies but also provides the transparency needed to strengthen employee trust in the long term. Learn more about the development and use of the equal pay calculator here.
This best practice was first published in the Gender Intelligence Report 2021.
Wüest Partner is an innovative and independent service provider in the real estate industry. Since 1985, we have been using a combination of expertise, data and digital solutions to create a sound basis for decision-making: We lead the industry with comprehensive services in the areas of consulting, valuation, data & analytics, products, software and education; owned by 23 partners, with over 300 employees in 11 locations in Europe and headquartered in Switzerland.
The proportion of women in the real estate industry is generally low. We are convinced that diverse teams produce better results and have therefore increased our commitment and awareness in the area of diversity and inclusion in recent years.
Partner at Wüest Partner and Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee
Ensuring fair and balanced pay distribution across all levels and teams has always been important to us. Among other things, we use the federal government’s standard analysis tool “Logib” to statistically check our internal company salary structure with regard to equal pay between the different genders (https://logib.admin.ch/). The results of the Logib analysis have created further needs for us: In addition to a broader significance of the model, we also wanted a better representation of our individual company structure. With the Wüest Partner “Equal Pay Calculator”, we now have an internal comparison tool based on objective criteria.
Wüest Partner’s range of services consists largely of highly analytical valuation procedures that extend to all areas of the construction and real estate market. We analyse, compare and value real estate and its locations in a very structured and data-based manner. So why not analyse the wages of our own employees with similar methods and models?
Thus, we had decided to apply our own skills and knowledge from analytics and to develop our own wage model based on the Logib model. In this way, we want to take better account of our team structures as well as the wage-relevant characteristics of our employees.
Based on the available salary and personal information of Wüest Partner employees from the last five years, we have developed a statistical model (multiple regression analysis). The “Equal Pay Calculator”, which we have been using since 2020, calculates a model salary based on personal characteristics and job profile.
We implemented some aspects in the same way as in Logib – e.g., the breakdown into five career stages or the subdivision into training classes. However, in addition to age (implicit for work experience), we also wanted to include, for example, the length of time spent at a specific career level. We have also assigned all employees to a “sector” (e.g. Real Estate Consultants, Data Scientists, HR, etc.). Finally, we reviewed several aspects in the model development. We wanted to make sure that both gender and part-time bias could be excluded.
“In addition to model salaries for existing employees, promotions or new hires, I was able to analyse our established wage structures as part of the salary model. We were able to show, for example, that there are no structural wage differences between individual teams or locations. We were also able to demonstrate statistically that there is no wage distortion for employees working part-time. And it was fascinating to see by what percentage our wages increase for each additional year of work experience or educational qualification.”
Jacqueline Schweizer, Director and responsible for modelling the Equal Pay Calculator
The Equal Pay Calculator is an ideal management tool for both supervisors and the human resources team.
A model salary (base salary and total compensation) is calculated annually for all employees of Wüest Partner. Since the model is based only on salary data from Wüest Partner, the sum of all deviations between actual salaries and model salaries amounts to zero. What is interesting, however, are the deviations between actual pay and the calculated model salary for individual employees. Deviations always exist and are permitted. However, decision-makers are challenged to effectively explain the existing differences through performance-related aspects.
The Equal Pay Calculator serves as guidance and is not responsible for any final decisions. Overall, the calculator improves the comparability of all salaries for management and HR, enabling them to place greater emphasis on employees’ qualifications when setting salaries.
“Last autumn, we started using the Equal Pay Calculator across the entire company. We calculated a model total compensation for 2020 and a model base salary for 2021 for all employees. With transparent deviations upwards or downwards, we were, therefore, able to take individual performance into account. This has simplified discussions enormously about fair salaries and comparisons between individual areas and teams.”
Mario Grubenmann, Partner and Member of the Executive Board
“For every new hire, we now always start by calculating the base salary using the Equal Pay Calculator. We don’t stick stubbornly to this model salary, but it gives us a sound basis for negotiations with candidates. Sometimes, positions are more difficult to fill and we have to make concessions in terms of salary. In these cases, we have the transparency to determine that this person earns more than our internal benchmark. If the actual performance is not as above average as expected, we can compensate for this wage difference with a lower bonus. That’s why we also calculate a separate pay model for total compensation.”
Simone Rombach, Head of HR
The salary analysis and the Equal Pay Calculator will now be updated each year with the new salary data. The Equal Pay Calculator will be used in the annual salary round, for new hires and promotions and ensure better comparability. With the internal salary benchmarking, we want to further strengthen our employees’ trust in our salary model. We are convinced that the use of the Equal Pay Calculator will have a positive impact on our corporate culture. It is known from surveys that appreciation, fair pay and a trusting work environment are particularly important for women.
If you have any questions about the Equal Pay Calculator or the topic of equal pay at Wüest Partner, please contact Christine Eugster: christine.eugster@wuestpartner.com.
This Best Practice was first published in the Gender Intelligence Report 2021.
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