The BASK names six techniques to measure and increase equity. This unit is about picking the right one for the job in front of you.
The six
The SHRM Empathy Index, diversity at all levels, pay audits, pay equity reports, pay transparency, and employee surveys.
Not on the list: forced distribution ratings and stack ranking (performance-rating methods), mandatory arbitration of pay disputes (dispute resolution), and uniform salary freezes (a cost control that measures nothing).
Which tool for which job
- Pay audit — the instrument for systematically establishing the scope of a disparity. When women in a job family average lower base pay after controlling for level and tenure, the audit sizes the problem. An ERG listening session gathers perceptions but does not quantify. Mentorship and bias training are real named interventions but measure nothing.
- Pay equity report — the analytical output documenting the gaps.
- Pay transparency — the act of disclosing pay information, such as publishing ranges for all posted roles. Publishing ranges is transparency, not a pay equity report.
- Diversity at all levels — the measure that separates aggregate headcount diversity from representation by level. It is what exposes a diverse overall workforce whose officers and directors are all from one group.
Do not answer these with Ethical Practice items: opt-in/opt-out policies and standards for employee investigations belong there, not here.
Reporting the full picture
Told to report only the company-wide average gap and omit the job-family breakdowns showing the largest disparities, the first action is to present the full pay equity analysis, including job-family detail, to the decision makers who own the remedy.
Transparency is an Ethical Practice key concept, and the Ethical Agent sub-competency requires that policies and practices reflect ethical values. Publishing the average alone knowingly issues a misleading figure. Releasing the data to employees over leadership's head forecloses an orderly remedy. Waiting for the next cycle delays action on a known disparity with no stated data defect.
Take the complete analysis to the people who can act on it.