Google goes public with salary methodology to refute gender pay-gap claim
Google has gone public with its own pay methodology in a retort to the US department of labor which alleged that the search giant was guilty of underpaying female staff.
Refuting the existence of any such pay gap Google insists that it is "gender blind" in so far as remuneration is concerned, asserting that salary levels are judged solely on "role, job level, job location as well as current and recent performance ratings".
This formula is used by analysts with no access to gender information before a four stage pay equity model which includes an adjustment process to bring men or women as a group ‘in line’ if either is paid a "statistically significantly lower amount".
Google’s response follows in the wake of findings from the department of labor’s office of federal contract compliance programs which found ‘systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across [Google’s] entire workforce’, part of an ongoing dispute between the US government and Google over its pay policy.
This has seen Google refuse to hand over salary information from September 2015, claiming that the request was too broad in its nature.
Google is presently embroiled in an advertiser brand safety row.