Wagemark is an international wage

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

used to certify that the ratio between a business, non-profit or government agency's highest and lowest paid earners is competitive and sustainable. The Wagemark Standard is maintained by the Wagemark Foundation, a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization. There are two ways to achieve Wagemark compliance, both of which result in an organization's listing on the Wagemark Global Registry. As of May 2014, there are 30 Wagemark certified organizations across 14 industries and 4 countries.

Standard

The Wagemark Standard is a third-party standard that makes it possible for organizations to respond constructively to income inequalities by committing to operate within a wage range that supports

competitiveness In economics, competition is a scenario where different economic firmsThis article follows the general economic convention of referring to all actors as firms; examples in include individuals and brands or divisions within the same (legal) firm ...

, transparency and

social equity Social equity is concerned with justice and fairness of social policy. Since the 1960s, the concept of social equity has been used in a variety of institutional contexts, including education and public administration. Overview Definitions of so ...

Calculation

The standard compares the total earnings of the highest-paid employee with the average pay of the bottom

decile In descriptive statistics, a decile is any of the nine values that divide the sorted data into ten equal parts, so that each part represents 1/10 of the sample or population. A decile is one possible form of a quantile; others include the quartile ...

of earners within an organization. This decile is based on the proportion of full-time and

part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...

employees within the organization. Earnings include all tax-reported income and benefits.

Compliance

Compliance with the Wagemark Standard applies to a whole organization across all product lines and issue areas. All organizations are eligible to join the Wagemark Global Registry.

Wagemark Certification

Wagemark Certification is open to organizations with a wage ratio of 8:1 or less, as calculated by the Wagemark Standard. Compliance with the Wagemark Standard must be verified by a chartered accountant. Wagemark Certification lasts for 12 months. Certification costs $200 per year, per organization. Wagemark Certified organization may use the Wagemark logo and applicable Ratiomark.

Wagemark Registration

Wagemark Registration is open to all organizations. To become Wagemark Registered an organization must disclose their wage ratio to the Wagemark Foundation. Wagemark Registered organizations may use the Wagemark logo on their website.

History

The Wagemark Foundation was inspired by management theorist,

Peter Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker (; ; November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business co ...

. In 1977, Drucker wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal that decried the corrosive effect of lavish executive salaries. Drucker's simple solution was to make company wage policies more rational and transparent by fixing the maximum compensation of corporate executives as a multiple of the lowest paid regular full-time employee. Wagemark's founding in 2013 was further motivated by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's book, The Spirit Level, which was published in 2009. As of April 2020, the Wagemark website has been moved. The work of the foundation continues as

Impact on Legislation

Inspired by Wagemark, in May 2014,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

State Senator Catherine Cool Rumsey introduced legislation to establish a preference in government contracts for organizations with wage ratios of 32:1 or less.

References

{{Reflist Social economy Economic inequality