Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap

Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap

        After reviewing the case study, I have a whole new respect for GAP Inc. and how they fight to treat women equal. The quest to ensure equal pay across the company started on day one in 1969 when the owners made it part of the company’s heritage and continued for 45 more years before the company openly announced to the public that it pays all employees equally and was the first Fortune 500 company to do so. With the expectation of critics coming forward to doubt the claim, GAP Inc. hired an independent consulting firm to validate the truth behind their claim (McElhaney & Smith, 2017).

        That isn’t the only data that GAP Inc. has utilized to their advantage either. I was quite intrigued by the fact that GAP runs two separate types of pay gap analyses annually, organizational pay gap analysis and like-for-like pay gap analysis, which obviously gives them more opportunity to address any changes in pay before they have the chance to become viewed as gender-related issues. GAP then empowers its own managers to make individual salary decisions instead of handing down expected pay scales, which is incredible and shows that the company trusts its managers to make the most ethical decision that will keep within the company’s standards.

        The company standards seem to be set high and I feel that is because GAP Inc. has developed itself into a well-respected company by utilizing the many supportive factors it has at its disposal such as the DNA of the company, a Diversion and Inclusion Council, and Business Resource Groups to help keep the equal pay initiatives moving forward. This helps to keep various parts of the company aligned on company values and prevent any unconscious bias such as implicit prejudice from impacting the equal pay vision. According to McElhaney & Smith (2017), unconscious biases account for an incredible 38% of gender pay gap and GAP Inc. has taken multiple measures to prevent the company from falling into that metric.

        GAP Inc. is constantly adapting to protect its female employees and their equal pay. The company accepts the constantly changing social norms, works through cultural obstacles to provide as equal pay as possible to all employees, and it does not require that applicants include their previous salaries on their applications. I personally feel that not requiring salary information is a big deal, as it leaves the door open for a clean slate for many new employees and gives them the opportunity to achieve a higher base salary. McElhaney & Smith (2017) mentioned that research has shown women earn somewhere between 93-95% of the salaries that men do in similar roles. Put into perspective at GAP Inc., if a man earned an average $60,000 per year over a 30-year career, a woman would average somewhere between $55,800 and $57,000 per year. This would be a total career difference between $90,000-$126,000 for a female versus male.

         One part of the case that stood out to me and provided a vision of the culture within GAP Inc. is when a female employee voiced her concern that the non-football fans in the room may not have felt as part of the executive’s meeting kick-off conversation. She confidently amplified her voice on behalf of others and the executive quickly changed the meeting topics to those which catered to the entire crowd. The fact that the female employee could speak out without repercussion or being shunned by others, and the executive accepted her feedback shows the positive culture that exists within GAP Inc.