https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700288695/google-pay-study-finds-its-underpaying-men-for-some-jobs

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Google Pay Study Finds It Underpaid Men For Some Jobs The tech
company disbursed almost $10 million to more than 10,000 employees to
try to standardize pay. Google says it will continue studying
structural issues to ensure compensation is fair.

Technology

Google Pay Study Finds It Underpaid Men For Some Jobs

March 5, 20197:32 AM ET
Matthew S. Schwartz 2018 square

Matthew S. Schwartz

[ap_1904925]
Enlarge this image

Google is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by women who allege
systemic underpayment. And the Department of Labor is investigating
whether Google pays women less. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Google is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by women who allege
systemic underpayment. And the Department of Labor is investigating
whether Google pays women less.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

When Google conducted its annual pay equity analysis for 2018, the
tech company found something nobody expected: It was underpaying men
for doing similar work as women.

The underpayment -- which flips the typical gender pay gap narrative
on its head -- mostly applied to one group of software engineers. The
company emphasized in a blog post that despite this pay discrepancy,
deeper structural issues can continue to lead to pay disparities
between men and women.

To standardize compensation between genders within the group, Google
disbursed almost $10 million to more than 10,000 employees. (Though
it did not say how much of the money went to men.)

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"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," wrote Lauren
Barbato, Google's lead analyst for pay equity. "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."

"Leveling" refers to the pay grade to which employees are assigned.
Google said it planned a "leveling equity analysis" to assess how new
employees are leveled and whether the company can improve its
practices.

Google is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by women who allege
systemic underpayment. And the Department of Labor is investigating
whether Google pays women less.

James Finberg, the lawyer who filed the class-action suit, told Wired
that Google's report contradicted expert analysis of the company's
own payroll data. "It is very disappointing that, instead of
addressing the real gender pay inequities adverse to women, Google
has decided to increase the compensation of 8,000 male software
engineers," Finberg said.

Since 2012, Google has conducted a yearly companywide analysis to
ensure pay is "equitable across gender and racial lines," Barbato
said. She offered an explanation for the relatively large adjustment
compared with the prior year: Female engineers got more discretionary
funds than men.

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The Washington Post explains that in Google's 2018 study, "Managers
had dipped into the discretionary funds more often for women
engineers, creating a pay gap for men in the same job category."

Joelle Emerson, chief executive of the consulting company Paradigm,
told The New York Times that Google was advancing a "flawed and
incomplete sense of equality." Google should instead address
"equity," she said, examining structural issues faced by women
engineers.

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