In its annual study to understand if women are getting paid less to perform the same job as their male colleagues, Google found something it didn't expect — men were the ones getting underpaid.
As part of its 2018 equity-wage analysis, 10,677 Google employees had their salaries adjusted, a majority of which were men — first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a company spokesperson on Monday.
The results are surprising, given the tech industry's history of underpaying women.
Salesforce has been carrying out equal pay assessments since 2016, and has paid women over $8 million to account for the discrepancies.
Google has been carrying out the pay-audits since 2012. A class-action lawsuit in 2017 alleged that the search giant systematically paid women employees less than their male counterparts.
Google's 2018 findings — that more male employees were being underpaid based on the company's methodology for determining fair salaries — has forced the company to reconsider more of its human resource policies outside of pay.
"Our pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location and performance. But we know that’s only part of the story," Google said in its blog post Monday, announcing the results. "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."
In other words, the fact that the analysis flagged more men being underpaid could reflect more fundamental inequities and diversity problems within the company.
Google told us that many of its adjustments this year were found in the Level 4 Software Engineer position, and because there are so many employees in that job code, the number of adjustments needed tipped to being a majority male.
Google also said that it paid out $9.7 million total this year in salary adjustments.
