PHSA promotes gender equity as part of its overall commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and our commitment to eradicating Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination from the health system.
We understand that delivering exceptional care to diverse patient populations in a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment requires a workforce enriched by a broad range of skills, experiences and perspectives.
In alignment with the
Pay Transparency Act, this report allows us to measure progress and guide future initiatives aimed at advancing pay equity across all levels of the organization.
For unionized staff, pay is set through collective agreements. For non-unionized staff, we follow provincial direction from the Health Employers Association of BC and Public Sector Employers’ Council for salary ranges and job classification.
PHSA continues to advance initiatives that support a thriving, equitable workforce:
- We apply a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) framework to guide inclusive hiring, promotion, and development strategies—ensuring equitable access to opportunities and removing barriers for underrepresented groups. This includes bias-aware recruitment processes, inclusive job postings, flexible work options, and targeted outreach to diverse communities.
- We recognize Indigenous lived experience and expertise in job qualifications and compensation to support equitable hiring practices for Indigenous employees in Indigenous-specific roles.
Our work is supported by policies that we regularly review and strengthen, including an Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Policy and Indigenous-specific Anti-Racism and Discrimination Staff Policy.
We also offer leadership education on equity and compensation, and targeted recruitment programs for BIPOC, transgender and Two-Spirit communities approved by the BC Office of Human Rights Commission.
We use employee self-identification data and workplace experience data to help inform action planning.
The 2023/24 report included a data error related to "special pay." Instead of calculating an hourly rate, lump sum payments were incorrectly treated as hourly wages, resulting in extreme outliers—particularly among employees who identify as men, who represent a smaller portion of PHSA's workforce. This skewed the average hourly pay and led to a misleading pay equity ratio of 83 cents earned by women for every dollar earned by men.
When these outliers are removed, the adjusted 2023/24 averages show men earning $47.93/hour and women $46.85/hour—a ratio of 98 cents to the dollar. In the 2024/25 report, "special pay" was excluded entirely, resulting in average hourly rates of $49.55 for men and $48.14 for women. This yields a ratio of 97 cents to the dollar, closely aligned with the corrected 2023/24 data. This confirms that the discrepancy in last year's report was due solely to the misclassification of "special pay."
