Salary survey

The purpose of the salary surveys carried out at Uppsala University is to map and, from a gender equality perspective, analyse all of the relevant information regarding salary setting and other employment conditions that applies in the workplace. The survey is carried out in collaboration with the trade unions at the University. Every year, a report on the salary survey is made, which can be read here on the website.

Salary survey reports from 2018–2023 are not yet available in English.

Equal work

The employer must analyse differences in salary that occur within equal work, ie between women and men who perform the same or almost the same tasks. It is the work tasks that will govern the division into groups, not the contract or organisational affiliation. All employees, including managers and supervisors, will be included in the grouping. The form of employment has no significance. Uppsala University uses BESTA coding (information on BESTA coding in Swedish) for a first division into groups of equal work, in some cases a subdivision into several groups within the same BESTA code has also taken place where it has been deemed relevant. The analysis of the pay gap between women and men in equal work must result in an assessment of whether it is directly or indirectly related to gender. The entire salary difference must be able to be explained in a factual way.

Work of equal value

Salary differences must be mapped and analysed between a group of employees who perform female-dominated work and a group of employees who perform equivalent work that is not or is not usually considered to be female-dominated, and who have lower requirements and higher salaries. Non-female-dominated work is either quantitatively equal (none of the legal sexes amounts to or exceeds 60 percent proportionally) or is male-dominated. When the proportion of women amounts to or exceeds 60 percent, the work can be considered female-dominated. (information on salary surveys and the law in Swedish)

Employees who perform work of equal value perform work which, without entailing the same or almost the same tasks, can still be considered to have equal value based on a weighted assessment of the requirements of the work and its nature. Factors such as knowledge and skills, responsibility and effort must be taken into account when assessing the requirements of the work. When assessing the nature of the work, special working conditions must be taken into account.

The Discrimination Act and the salary survey

The Discrimination Act, Chapter 3, Sections 8-14 (unofficial translation)

Section 8
In order to discover, remedy and prevent unfair gender differences in pay and other terms of employment, the employer is to annually survey and analyse

provisions and practices regarding pay and other terms of employment that are used by the employer, and

pay differences between women and men performing work that is to be regarded as equal or of equal value.

Section 9
The employer is to assess whether existing pay differences are directly or indirectly associated with gender. The analysis is to refer in particular to differences between

women and men performing work that is to be regarded as equal,

groups of employees performing work that is or is generally considered to be dominated by women and
groups of employees performing work that is to be regarded as of equal value to such work but is not or is not generally considered to be dominated by women, and

groups of employees performing work that is or is generally considered to be dominated by women and groups of employees performing work that is not or is generally not considered to be dominated by women but that gives higher pay despite the requirements of the work being regarded as lesser.

Section 10
Work is to be regarded as of equal value to other work if it can be deemed so based on an overall assessment of the requirements and nature of the work. The assessment of the requirements of the work is to take into account criteria such as knowledge and skills, responsibility and effort. In assessing the nature of the work, particular account is to be taken of working conditions.

Cooperation

Section 11
Employers and employees are to cooperate in work on active measures.

Information required for cooperation

Section 12
The employer is to provide an employee organization to which the employer is bound by collective agreement with the information required for the organization to be able to cooperate on work on active measures.

If the information concerns data on pay or other circumstances that relate to an individual employee, the rules on confidentiality and damages contained in Sections 21, 22 and 56 of the Employment (Co-determination in the Workplace) Act (1976:580) apply. In activities of public authorities, the provisions of Chapter 10, Sections 11–14 and Chapter 12, Section 2 of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400) apply instead.

Documentation

Section 13
Employers who employed 25 or more workers as of the beginning of the calendar year are to document in writing in the course of the year their work on active measures under Sections 4–10.

This documentation is to contain

1. an account of all aspects of the work described in Sections 2 and 3 and concerning the areas indicated in Section 5,
2. an account of the measures taken and planned under Sections 6 and 7,
3. an account of the results of the survey and analysis under Sections 8–10,
4. an account of the pay adjustments and other measures that need to be taken to rectify pay differences that are directly or indirectly associated with gender,
5. a cost estimate and a time plan based on the goal of implementing the necessary pay adjustments as soon as possible and within at most three years,
6. an account and evaluation of how the previous year's planned measures were implemented, and
7. an account of how the obligation to cooperate under Section 11 is being met.

Section 14
Employers who employed between 10 and 24 workers as of the beginning of the calendar year are to document in writing in the course of the year their work on pay surveys under Sections 8–10.

The documentation is to contain the information stated in Section 13, points 3–6 and an account of how the obligation to cooperate under Section 11 is being met with respect to pay surveys.