In a surprising twist, Google’s 2018 equity-wage analysis revealed the company is paying men less than women for the same job.
According to TechCrunch, Google realized male-identified Level 4 Software Engineers were receiving less money than women working the same position. As a result, Google announced it paid $9.7 million in adjustments to 10,677 workers.
This is surprising because Google historically struggled with paying women fairly. In 2017, there was a class-action lawsuit alleging the company systematically underpaid women in comparison to men.
In the same year, Google ended up paying $270,000 to close wage gaps for 228 employees that worked in six different job groups. According to TechCrunch, the group included women and men from different countries, along with Black and Latinx employees in the United States.
Google workforce is currently 69 percent male and 31 percent female, according to its annual diversity report. In leadership roles, those numbers quickly widen, as 74.5 percent are male and 25.5 percent are female.
“Our pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location, and performance. But we know that’s only part of the story,” Google shared in its blog post. “Because leveling, performance ratings, and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees.”
Even with Google’s recent pay analysis, there are still fundamental inequities the company needs to tackle.
