ASDA have been unsuccessful in preventing more than 10,000 equal pay claims from proceeding. The supermarket giant has been pressed to solve their equal pay problems. They involve female workers being paid the same amount as male workers, following a tribunal hearing.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that certain job positions in ASDA stores are similar and comparable to their distribution centre. The GMB union has urged ASDA to reach a sensible solution on jobs of similar value before the case is taken further.
The judges have allowed the claims to continue and this has led ASDA to not focus on paying women working in the stores and men working in the distribution centres equally. What the supermarket is doing instead is being consistent in appealing every point made available to them.
The board of directors at ASDA should sit down to discuss and reflect why these claims are being made by their employees. They need to look at the differences between why the distribution centre workers are paid more than the workers in their stores. This will help the supermarket giant to realise that maybe each job position is of equal value and therefore so should their pay. It will also help ASDA to stop wasting time and money on litigation.
If the shop workers are successful with their claims against ASDA, the supermarket will have to review the pay of thousands of staff members who could have potentially been paid unlawfully. However, if the shop workers are unsuccessful with their claims, it could potentially mean an increase in employee turnover for ASDA.
Pay is a key contributor to motivating employees. For example, in the ASDA case, the female workers aren’t going to be motivated to work hard knowing their colleagues are being paid more. This will also have an impact on relationships at work which isn’t good especially if you are required to work in teams.
However, pay systems that are fair and equal will promote a positive message about the workplace. It will also show to customers the company has good work values as well. In ASDA’s case, the company could face reputational damage if they don’t act sensibly to the claims made against them.
If you have any queries regarding your own pay system and how you can promote fairness and equality in your workplace, please contact a member of the HPC team on 0844 800 5932 or email: help@highperformanceconsultancy.com
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