Dive Brief:
- When asked which "gender-related issue" they cared about the most, two-thirds of respondents said they didn't know, according to a Beqom survey of 1,000 U.S. workers released Feb. 25.
- Ending the wage gap between women and men was most important of issues to 19% of respondents.
- Nine percent of respondents said they care most about seeing a federal parental leave policy passed.
Dive Insight:
As the general public, most of whom are workers, grapples with gender-related issues such as discrimination and harassment, pay has risen as a key point of the discussion. Being transparent about what workers are paid may be an effective way of eliminating the pay disparity between women and men. This is true to a point, sources previously told HR Dive. Sharing information about how pay is set and what factors play into raises may help workers understand their company's overall pay philosophy, one source said. But sharing information about individuals' compensation may lead to hurt feelings.
What's more, transparent pay policies are shown to eliminate gender pay gaps, but not within male-dominated jobs, a recent PayScale report found.
A few companies have stood out as successful in closing the pay gap. Citi, for example, announced last month its progress in equalizing pay. While Citi said it pays women 99 cents on every dollar men take home, Sara Wechter, head of the company's human resources, said the company must do more to close the gap. "Continuing to reduce our raw pay gap requires that we make progress on our representation goals — to increase representation at the Assistant Vice President through Managing Director levels to at least 40% for women globally and 8% for Black employees in the US by the end of 2021 — which we are committed to doing."
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the size of the pool of respondents Beqom surveyed, as well as where they were surveyed. The report comprised 1,000 U.S. workers.
