Tech giants pledge to close the gender pay gap
For real this time.
To celebrate Women's Equality Day, President Obama has announced a group of 29 major US employers who have signed the White House Equal Pay Pledge and promised to help close the gender pay gap. On the list are 10 top tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel and IBM.
According to the White House, the pledge includes five key points:
Acknowledging the critical role businesses must play in reducing the national pay gap.
Committing to conducting an annual company-wide gender pay analysis across occupations.
Reviewing hiring and promotion processes and procedures to reduce unconscious bias and structural barriers.
Embedding equal pay efforts into broader enterprise-wide equity initiatives.
Pledging to take these steps as well as identify and promote other best practices that will close the national wage gap to ensure fundamental fairness for all workers.
While Facebook and Microsoft confirmed earlier this year that they have no gender pay gap, the acknowledgement from Obama is sure to add a little credibility to those claims. Rounding out the rest of the tech-focused businesses who signed on today are: Akami Technologies, Dropbox, LinkedIn, MailChimp and MuleSoft. One company is conspicuously absent, however: Earlier this year, Amazon claimed it pays men and women equally, but only revealed its salary figures when the SEC came knocking.
