“Google paid out an additional $9.7 million in salary to 10,677 employees, most of them men.”
Google recently conducted a study to determine if it is underpaying women or minority groups. Instead, the company came to the surprising conclusion that it is underpaying men.
In response, the internet giant paid out an additional $9.7 million in salary to 10,677 employees, most of them men.
Google conducted the pay analysis as the company continued to defend itself from a class-action lawsuit filed by three former female employees. In the suit, the ex-employees accuse the tech giant of systematically paying them less than men who do similar jobs.
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Google has denied paying women less, but the company conducted the study amid uproar that tech companies have not done enough to level the playing field for women.
At the same time, the company made clear that the study does not provide a full picture of women at Google. It acknowledged that there are ingrained issues that cannot be overcome by simply analyzing how much people are paid to do similar jobs.
“We know that’s only part of the story,” Lauren Barbato, Google’s lead analyst for pay equity, people analytics, wrote in a blog post made public on Monday. “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.”
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The study covered 91 percent of Google’s employees, comparing salaries, bonuses, and company stock.
The study isn’t the first time Google has been in the gender equity spotlight. In 2017, Google software engineer James Damore wrote an internal memo criticizing the company’s diversity program. Damore argued that biological differences in gender were to blame for the shortage of women in upper-tier positions. He was later fired after his memo caused an uproar among fellow employees.
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