Gender equality index: new mandatory publications

In recent years, companies with at least fifty employees have been required to publish, each year, their index of gender equality. A tool to measure and eliminate the gender pay gap.

This index, presented in the form of an overall score out of one hundred points, is calculated based on various indicators (pay gap between women and men, gap in the rate of individual wage increases, number of employees of the under-represented sex among the ten employees who received the highest remuneration, etc.). The number of points related to each indicator is calculated according to a method defined by decree. The aggregate number of points for all the indicators gives the general score of the company.

The index and the score obtained for each indicator for the year 2021 had to be published by March 1st, 2022 (at the latest) in a visible and intelligible manner, on the company’s website. In the absence of a website, this information was brought to the attention of employees by any means (posting, email, intranet…)

In figures: As of March 1st, 2022, 61% of the companies concerned had published their index. The average index for 2021 is eighty-six points out of one hundred, one point higher than in 2020. Only 2% of companies obtained the maximum score of one hundred points.

New publications by the end of August

The company whose index is less than 75 points out of one hundred has 3 years to remedy this situation. To this end, it must implement corrective measures and, where appropriate, wage catch-up measures via a collective agreement or, after consulting the Social and Economic Committee (ESC), a unilateral decision.

From now on, the company must bring these measures to the attention of employees by any means and publish them on its website (on the same page as the index). This information must be searchable until the company obtains an index at least equal to 75 points.

In addition, from now on, when its index is less than 85 points out of one hundred, the company must, via a collective agreement or, after consulting the CSE, a unilateral decision, set progress objectives for each indicator for which the maximum score has not been reached. These objectives must be published on the company’s website (on the same page as the index) or, in the absence of a site, be brought to the attention of employees by any means. These objectives must be searchable until the company obtains an index at least equal to 85 points.

The corrective and catch-up measures, the progress objectives of each of the indicators as well as their publication methods (link to the website, for example) must be made available to the CSE in the economic, social and environmental database and transmitted to the Ministry of Labour via the dedicated Egapro Index website.

Important: The corrective and catch-up measures as well as the progress objectives must be published after the submission to DREETS (Direction Régionale de l’Economie, de l’Emploi, du Travail et des Solidarités) of the collective agreement or unilateral decision (via the TéléAccords platform). For the year 2021, the companies concerned have until September 1st, 2022, to publish this information.