Learn How Google’s Pay Equity Analysis Led to Raises for Male Employees

Google’s pay equity analysis led to raises for thousands of men.

After an analysis of its pay structure, Google determined that they were underpaying male employees relative to their peers.  As a result, Google’s pay equity analysis led to raises for thousands of men and some women.  For background on how the company typically awards annual raises, Google usually determines raises in three phases.  First, they adjust every employee’s compensation for factors such as location, seniority, and performance.  Then, managers can seek additional raises for their best-performing employees.  Finally, Google does a company-wide analysis to determine whether raises are biased in terms of race and gender.  If biases are detected, then the company awards additional raises to the disadvantaged workers.  Based on their latest analysis, Google determined that 10,677 mostly male employees needed salary adjustments.

However, critics point out that Google’s statistical analysis does not account for all the factors that bias the pay structure against women.  For instance, while the company’s pay equity analysis is designed to identify employees who are underpaid relative to others at the same job level, it does not look at the possibility that the process of assigning employees to job levels is biased in and of itself.

This issue is the basis of a 2017 lawsuit that three women filed against Google.  The lawsuit claimed that “Google has channeled and segregated, and continues to channel and segregate, women on the basis of their sex into lower compensation levels and into less-compensated and less-favorable job ladders and levels.”  The U.S. Department of Labor has also criticized the company’s hiring and promotion practices.  In a 2017 testimony, a DOL official claimed, “We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce.”

While Google has denied these claims, they report that they have plans to study their hiring and promotion processes to ensure that they are encouraging gender equality.

This is what you need to know about the recent report that Google’s pay equity analysis led to raises for thousands of men.  Are you interested in more payroll news or looking for a consulting firm with experience with higher education institutions or medical centers?  Then don’t hesitate to contact the professionals at McKnight Associates, Inc.  We are ready to offer you hands-on human resources consulting for colleges, universities, medical centers, and organizations of all sizes.