What I learned from running compa-ratio by gender before anybody asked us to

Nobody had requested it. I ran average compa-ratio by gender within each grade at our Canadian engineering and construction firm, about 2,900 employees, simply to see.

Overall the gap was under one point. Inside grades it was a different picture: women in the three senior professional grades averaged 94% against 99% for men. Tracing it back, nearly all of it came from starting salaries. Women were hired on average 5 points lower in the range and annual percentage increases had kept that gap intact for years.

We have since set a rule that offers are made on range position for experience, not on previous salary. My advice is to look at hiring before you look at the annual review.