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Person working at a computer.

The city of Tempe is looking for businesses to volunteer for a pilot program aimed at pay equity based on gender. The test group will be asked to share salary information and feedback to create a certification process to highlight certain employers.

Tempe leaders hope to get about 20 businesses involved in creating a self-assessment tool. By plugging job titles, genders, hours worked, and pay into a city-created spreadsheet, an employer can see pay gaps in each category. That breakdown is critical, says Rosa Inchausti, director of the Office of Strategic Management and Diversity.

“You can look holistically at an organization and say are women getting paid less in that company than men are. That is not a fair analysis to the business or the women in the organization,” she said. “You have to really look at occupations and that’s what are scale does.” 

She says the city will collect numbers only and not personal information. An employer with a pay gap less than 8 percent can send an affidavit to the city. The company could then be showcased on Tempe’s website and through a window decal identifying it as an “Equal Pay Business Partner.” 

“This is not a women’s issue,” Inchausti said. “This is an economic issue for families and if someone’s getting paid less in that family, it impacts the entire family, the children and the spouses.

City staffers plan to share details and gather feedback from the test group on Jan. 24 from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Tempe Public Library, 3500 S. Rural Road. Employers who are interested in participating can call Ginny Belousek at 480-350-8979 or email [email protected].