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Black employees at Google are paid nearly £16,000 less than their White or Asian colleagues, new leaked figures reveal.
The data, which showed the salaries of over 12,000 employees at the tech giant, was compiled by Google employees themselves, who voluntarily submitted their salary, equity and bonus data from last year.
These figures were analysed by the Insider, who found trends of unequal pay based on race and gender. Amongst this, Google employees from Black or African descent were found to have salaries over $20,000 (£15,975) less, on average, than their White or Asian co-workers, suggesting that Google salaries don’t necessarily align with their DEI efforts.
The data also found there to be a gender pay gap between male and female employees, male workers receiving a higher average salary. This was true across all departments, except for in the company’s sales department where some female roles earned more than their male counterparts. While non-binary employees earned less than male or female staff.
The leaked information also highlighted how staff are paid based on their location, where the firm’s average base salary is the lowest in its two most expensive office locations: New York and Silicon Valley – New York’s average wage coming at $48,000 (£38,346), a modest salary when compared to the city’s high-priced cost of living.
Inclusive, but not enough?
Earlier this year, Google made headlines for banning its staff from using non-inclusive language in the workplace, such as ‘chubby’, ‘crazy’, ‘mad’ or ‘blacklist’, in a bid to cut politically incorrect language. The move was slammed by some spectators, with Tory MP Nigel Mills calling the change ‘woke-nonsense’.
Clearly, the company wants to make a stance on their efforts towards diversity and inclusion, which is undoubtedly a positive thing. But the leaked figures suggest more meaningful action needs to be taken beyond potentially ‘performative’ acts.
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Yet, a spokesperson from Google defended the company, saying the data is likely inaccurate: “We compensate Googlers based on what they do, not who they are.
“We run a rigorous pay equity analysis every year to make sure salaries, bonuses and equity awards are fair. This spreadsheet has old, self-reported data that has not been verified and is not an accurate representation of compensation across our workforce.”
Google employees continue to be some of the highest paid workers in the tech industry, the median salary for a staff member being $279,802.
