Glassdoor Roundtable on Pay Equality Highlights Salary Transparency as Key to Eliminating Gender Pay Gap

On Equal Pay Day, Hillary Clinton, U.S. Gold Medalist Megan Rapinoe and Leading Experts Discussed Factors Contributing to Pay Gaps in the Workplace, Including Lack of Transparency and Equal Opportunities for Education and Advancement

NEW YORK, NY and MILL VALLEY, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 12, 2016) - In honor of Equal Pay Day, Glassdoor®, the world's most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace, hosted a roundtable with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several other leaders, experts and advocates to discuss issues related to pay equality and the gender pay gap. The roundtable was broadcast live from New York City; a recording is available at https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/equal-pay-roundtable/index.htm.

Over the course of an hour, panelists explored the realities and causes behind the gender pay gap and discussed a range of solutions. Moderated by award-winning journalist Diane Brady, most recently of Bloomberg, participants included:

• Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State, former U.S. senator, former first lady
• Robert Hohman, co-founder and CEO, Glassdoor, Inc.
• Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, executive director, The Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University
• Dan Henkle, president, Gap Foundation & SVP of global sustainability of Gap Inc.
• Megan Rapinoe, World Cup Champion & Olympic Gold Medalist
• Tracy Sturdivant, co-founder & co-executive director of Make It Work

The panelists discussed ways to improve the pay gap, including calling on employers for greater workplace and pay transparency; providing men and women equal opportunities for career advancement; and ensuring the right policies are in place to support pay transparency and encourage more women to enter higher-paying fields like science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM). Targeted initiatives to encourage career development and pay negotiation and support paid family leave and affordable childcare were also brought up as important ways to address root causes behind why women earn less than men.

Hillary Clinton on Transparency and the Gender Pay Gap

"The gender pay gap costs women, families and our economy so much money each year," said Secretary Clinton. "It is important to make the point that the failure to ensure equal pay for women also impacts families and the broader economy. Glassdoor is focusing on an issue that has almost universal repercussions. There are already laws at the federal level and in the states that make failure to provide equal pay illegal. The problem is there is not enough transparency and we don't know exactly what the pay gaps are in many settings."

Robert Hohman on the Equal Pay Pledge

"Two thousand employers have come to Glassdoor and taken our Equal Pay Pledge, they've pledged to ensure their business will provide equal pay for equal work," said Robert Hohman, CEO and co-founder of Glassdoor. "We know 90 percent of employees agree there should be equal pay for equal work and 60 percent say they will not apply to work at a company where they know there is a gender pay gap. In this war for talent, as an employer you are cutting off your access and ability to hire the best employees over the long term if you're not addressing this problem head-on."

Megan Rapinoe on the Tipping Point of Transparency

"As a team, we have a keen understanding of our platform and this issue of women's equality and we love shouldering that load," said Megan Rapinoe, World Cup Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist. "We've known about the contracts of the men's soccer team for a long time. Transparency was the tipping point for us. This year, after winning the World Cup and doing the victory tour, we were still grappling with the knowledge but we didn't have the numbers. It was late February or early March when they released all these numbers and we saw we were actually in the black by $17 million. We've already proven we have been making money even without the investment we need, so imagine with the investment."

The gender pay gap is top of mind for many Americans and employees around the world. Nine in 10 employees across seven countries believe men and women should be paid equally for equal work, according to a recent Glassdoor survey¹, yet a sizable wage gap still exists. New research from Glassdoor Economic Research revealed that the gender pay gap is real and significant -- 5.4 percent in the U.S. -- even after controls for education, work experience, location, industry and even job title and company are applied.

Glassdoor is a leader in workplace and salary transparency and has conducted economic research and global surveys around this critical topic to help shed light on the issue, better understand the pay gap and spark conversations to better understand the root causes and find appropriate solutions. 

ACTIONS EMPLOYEES & EMPLOYERS CAN TAKE: Employees and employers can take immediate steps to help close the gender pay gap through increased transparency and commitments.

Employees: Increasing transparency around pay can help workers around the world better understand if they are being paid fairly for their role at their own company and in the local labor market. Any employee anywhere can contribute an anonymous salary report on Glassdoor.

Employers: Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) employees wish they had a better understanding of what fair market pay is for their position a skill set at their company and local job market¹ and three in five employees would not apply to work at a company where a pay gap exists¹. Employers can stand out by taking a stand and doing what more than 1,800 employers have already done -- take the Pay Equality Pledge on Glassdoor, indicating a corporate commitment to pay employees equitably for equal work and experience.

GLASSDOOR GENDER PAY GAP AND SALARY TRANSPARENCY FACT SHEET: For more information, economic research and survey data around the topic of gender pay equality and salary transparency see the Glassdoor fact sheet.

¹ This survey was conducted online within Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of Glassdoor from October 1-5, 2015 among 8,254 adults ages 18 and older All responses noted are from adults who are employed part time / full time. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact pr@glassdoor.com.

About Glassdoor
Glassdoor is the most transparent jobs and recruiting marketplace that is changing how people search for jobs and how companies recruit top talent. Glassdoor combines free and anonymous reviews, ratings and salary content with job listings to help job seekers find the best jobs and address critical questions that come up during the job search, application, interview and negotiation phases of employment. For employers, Glassdoor offers recruiting and employer branding solutions to help attract high-quality candidates at a fraction of the cost of other channels. In addition, Glassdoor operates one of the most popular job apps on iOS and Android platforms. The company launched in 2008 and has raised approximately $160 million from Google Capital, Tiger Global, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, DAG Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group, and others.

(c) 2016 Glassdoor, Inc. Glassdoor is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

Note: This was a nonpartisan, non-campaign event.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Glassdoor media contacts:
MaryJo Fitzgerald or Scott Dobroski
pr@glassdoor.com