Dive Brief:
- GoDaddy achieved pay parity between men and women in similar roles for the fifth consecutive year, according to its 2019 diversity report, released Dec. 12. The report also showed modest pay increases for women and ethnic minority groups in tech jobs and women in leadership roles over their male or non-minority counterparts. The higher pay for some minority groups stems from higher living costs where many reside, said GoDaddy. The company factors in total rewards, including base salaries, bonuses and stock grants.
- Globally, women made up 29% of the company's workforce and 32% of leadership roles. Minority employees within the company gained a percentage point from 2018, to 33%.
- GoDaddy's Chief People Officer Monica Bailey said the company's positive gains in diversity stem from proactively identifying qualified women and other candidates for promotions to prevent anyone from being overlooked.
Dive Insight:
As Bailey referenced, this report represents GoDaddy's progress in diversity and inclusion efforts. In 2017, HR Dive awarded then-GoDaddy VP of Global Engagement & Inclusion Katee Van Horn its Executive of the Year Award after the company's cultural reversal.
Diversity and inclusion programs aren't hitting their mark unless the populations they're designed to serve are experiencing the benefits. For instance, nearly all the companies in a Boston Consulting Group survey said they have a diversity program in place, but only a quarter of the employee groups — people of color, women, those who identify as LGBTQ and others — said they have benefited. Increases in head counts of these groups alone aren't enough; employers need solid ways to measure whether employees are feeling valued, included and have opportunities for growth and advancement.
Hiring more women for tech jobs continues to be a pain point for many companies. Mentorship and sponsorship programs have been offered up as remedies to keep women onboard, but Rachael Andrews, WhiteHat Security's technical course director, wrote in an opinion article for HR Dive that companies must look beyond mentorships and connect women to advisers to help them navigate business entanglements. Andrews cited a University of Massachusetts at Amherst study showing that when female engineering students were assigned an adviser, 100% of them remained in their major for a subsequent year. She also recommended establishing cross-functional programs that allow women to use leadership skills and strategies that they may not use in their current roles.
