Google reveals that it pays men less than women

Google has revealed that it pays men less than women. In its internal pay equity study, men helming the "level 4 software engineer" role received less discretionary funds than women. This year, the company undertook a new hire analysis to look for any discrepancies in offers to new employees. Last year, the company included 91% of Googlers in its internal pay equity analysis and provided US$9.7 million in adjustments to a total of 10,677 Googlers.In a blog post, Lauren Barbato, lead analyst for pay equity, people analytics said that Google's pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location and performance. However, she added that due to leveling, performance ratings, and promotion impact pay, the company will be undertaking a review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees.Meanwhile, gender pay globally continues to be an issue. In Singapore, gender wage gap increased in 2018, with the median monthly wage for women representing 88% of men's in the country (91% in 2017), according to consumer research firm ValueChampion. It was revealed in the study that the wage gap was high in industries such as health and social services, manufacturing, accommodation & food services, information & communications and financial & insurance services.The study said that the wage gap in these industries suggest that women are less likely to have some of the higher paying roles in the country. It was said that women make up 52% of the financial & insurance industry workforce, but only 43% of the employees earning at least SG$7k per month in that sector. Similarly, women make up 77% of the health & social services workforce, but represent only 51% of employees in that industry that earn at least SG$7k monthly. Meanwhile, women represent 85% of the employees earning less than SG$2k per month.The study also said that women face a relatively smaller wage gap in industries such as real estate, construction, arts and recreation and other service-related sectors. In fact, the median wage for women (SG$3.8k) in the transportation & storage and administrative industries is higher than it is for men (SG$3k). However, women make up just 24% of the transportation & storage and 26% of the construction workforces. This also suggests that the impact of this wage advantage in these industries may be limited for women in Singapore.Analysing data from the Ministry of Manpower, the study said that the median wage for women working full-time was 90.8% of the median wage for men in 2017. However, in 2018 this ratio decreased to 87.5%. The median wage for full-time employees including employer CPF contributions was SG$4,680 for men and SG$4,095 for women. However, the wage discrepancy does not account for job title, education level, or work experience.This also comes in line with WPP's UK-based gender wage gap report that highlighted there are fewer women in senior executive roles, where pay is highest, resulting in a gender pay gap. WPP has approximately 14,000 employees (excluding associates) in the UK and a gender-balanced workforce of 51% men and 49% women. In the report, creative agencies Grey (31.33%) and JWT, which merged with Wunderman recently, (38.27%) had the biggest gap in the median wage between men and women. Meanwhile, for WPP, the median pay-gap stood at 14.9% (up from 14.6% last year) while the mean gap was 23.7% (down from 25.5%).(Read also: WPP UK survey reveals gender pay gap is highest in JWT, AKQA and Grey)To improve gender balance in its leadership teams, the report said that WPP aims to continue investing in best practice initiatives and programmes that advance the development of its female leaders and create a stronger and more diverse talent pipeline. The global network also said that it looks to raise awareness of important gender equality issues through external partnerships and the work it creates.