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Google Schools US Government About Gender Pay Gap (cnet.com)
Google wants the US government to know that it takes gender pay equity very seriously -- and is baffled by the contention that a gap exists at the tech giant. From a report: In responding to allegations lodged by the US Department of Labor that Google systematically pays its female employees less than it pays men, the search giant said in a blog post that employee gender doesn't factor into compensation decisions. Google described the process that it arrives at suggested compensation as "extremely scientific and robust," relying on the employee's role, job level and location, as well as recent performance ratings. What isn't considered in determining pay is whether the employee is male or female -- that information is masked out to those making the compensation decisions, Eileen Naughton, Google vice president for People Operations, explained in the post late Tuesday. "The analysts who calculate the suggested amounts do not have access to employees' gender data," Naughton wrote. "An employee's manager has limited discretion to adjust the suggested amount, providing they cite a legitimate adjustment rationale.
Most of the time pay gap statistics are brought out, they don't seem to compare apples to apples. The average female employee at company A makes less than the average male employee at Company A. And yet lower-paying office roles are predominantly sought out by female employees, which is what brings down that average if you're not comparing equivalent job titles and experience levels.
It does not matter how they feel, what matters is their career. If you break from your client group your career progress stops. That is a fact of life. It is plain stupid to think it is discrimination, it is your choice.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
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Women who do not have children get paid the same or more. But when you have to take several weeks or months off to take care of a child you slow your career.
Google offers several months' paid leave to both mothers and fathers, and all are strongly encouraged to take it. In part this is due to competitive pressure -- all the big tech companies are fighting over the same pool of employees and it's a really awesome perk, but it's also quite explicitly an attempt to eliminate this aspect of gender preference. Women who give birth do get a little extra time for "medical leave", but the actual maternity/paternity leave is the same. Oh, and it applies to employees who adopt, too (not the medical part, obviously).
If you want to have the biological and emotional fulfillment of giving birth and raising a child then realize you have to sacrifice your overall income.
Not at Google. Oh, I suppose it may slow you a little because the time you're on leave is time you're not doing promotion-worthy things, but in practice it doesn't seem to have any significant effect. I see people with families of all sizes at all levels of the career ladder. That even includes a few quite senior people who take maternity/paternity leave every year. I know one engineer who has had a child every year for six years, and taken all of the leave, and leads a large and important team. I know another who has negotiated a deal with management to accept a 60% salary in exchange for working only three days per week, and also to spread maternity/paternity leave over time, taking one day of it per week, with the net effect of a two day per week work schedule -- and just got a major promotion. That particular engineer is something of a rock star and I'm not sure that sort of deal is generally available (though fractional salary for reduced work schedule is, with management approval). Note that I didn't specify the gender of either of those examples. One is a man and one is a woman; their gender doesn't affect the options available to them.
As a Google employee, my reaction to the DOL claim was "WTF"? The claim is so utterly at odds with the way Google operates.
Here's my guess as to how the DOL came to their conclusion: They just looked at average male and average female compensation, without considering job role. Because women are underrepresented in engineering, and engineering jobs are better-compensated than most other categories, the average female compensation is probably lower. That women are underrepresented in engineering is something Google regularly and publicly discusses, and the company has a wide variety of initiatives aimed at improving that situation, mostly by trying to increase the number of women in the hiring pipeline.
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In the USA, maybe. In Canada and other countries both parents are entitled to parental leave.