By now, you’ve almost certainly heard about or read the infamous memo written by a (now former) Google employee voicing his opinions on the efficacy of the company’s diversity initiatives and the cause of the gender pay gap. Regardless of whether you agree with his perspective on the gender pay gap, or how Google handled the aftermath, this viral memo brings the topics of unconscious bias, pay equity, and diversity to the forefront of our national conversation about the workplace.
Unconscious bias refers to the feelings or thoughts we have towards other people, derived from stereotypes and prejudices, which arise without awareness or intent. If unconscious bias influences compensation decisions, what can employers do to work toward pay equity? One solution is to support pay transparency. Pay transparency means that employers should be upfront and clear about salary and compensation decisions and not impede employees’ rights to share salary information with one another. In fact, numerous states—including California, Maryland, Massachusetts (effective July 1, 2018), New York, and Vermont—have recently enacted legislation requiring pay transparency in the workplace, while several other states and local jurisdictions have bills pending that would impose similar requirements. Companies working on federal contracts or subcontracts that are necessary to the performance of federal contracts are also subject to pay transparency requirements. In fact, the National Labor Relations Act has stated for years that employers may not prohibit non-managerial employees from sharing compensation information. Under these laws, employers must permit employees to ask questions and disclose information about their own wages or the wages of other employees, and cannot retaliate against them for doing so (excepting, of course, those employees whose job requires them to have knowledge of others’ compensation, such as HR representatives and payroll personnel). These laws support the theory that shining a light on such information undercuts our unconscious biases and prevents pay disparities that might arise based on protected class status. After all, once someone has raised their own awareness of an unconscious bias, the issue is now susceptible to being addressed and corrected.
