Stronger Equity Pays Off
by K.C. Neel -- Multichannel News, 11/16/2008 7:00:00 PM
Cable companies continue to improve their pay-accountability processes and procedures to be more transparent and fair, according to Women in Cable Telecommunications and Working Mother Media.
More companies have “good” pay-equity policies — those that link pay equity to company growth and profitability, underscoring the business case for equal pay. And 41.2% of cable employers — up from 34.3% in 2007 — back up their policies with equally strong pay-equity surveys. These surveys analyze pay by gender, race, age, tenure and other factors to detect inequities.
| The Weather Channel Cos. |
| Turner Broadcasting System |
| Scripps Networks |
| Cox Communications |
| Discovery Communications |
Research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in 2007, women made 77.8% of the median men’s salary for full-time workers. Women’s median annual earnings were $35,102, compared with men’s earnings of $45,113.
At the same time, the American Association of University Women reported that within one year of graduating from college, women earn about 80% of male counterparts. The gap gets wider as women progress in their careers. By 10 years after graduation, women earn about 69% as much as men, according to the American Association of University Women.
To be sure, larger companies tend to have more extensive and formal pay-equity programs, according to Working Mother Media analyst Joanne Cleaver. But coaching and guidance from PAR and other outlets should help those smaller companies put more formal pay equity programs in place.
For instance, Turner Broadcasting System adapted a version of The Weather Channel Cos.’ equity budget concept, which is designed to eliminate inequalities in base salary among employees with the same jobs.
“Every year we do an analysis of pay and look for discrepancies,” said Turner chief human resources officer Loretta Walker. “When we do come across them, we make adjustments as necessary.”
Both Turner and Weather believe it’s imperative that managers work closely with human resources to make sure pay, bonus and promotion decisions are made in context.
Turner trains its managers on compensation policies and practices including providing methods of evaluating performance and use of internal and external salary surveys to make equity and other pay decisions. Human-resources coaches assist managers with all of their compensation decisions, bolstering the big picture of the company’s compensation structure.
Scripps Networks has included work/life benefits as part of its gender pay-equity policies. The company’s workforce is marginally more female than male, so the company has strived to make sure work/life balance applies equally to both genders.
Cox Communications adopted a systemwide pay-equity program in 2007. The initiative was meant to take into account regional differences in pay rates and the cost of living, yet could be applied across all regions.
Discovery Communications reorganized its compensation program last year to better reflect employees’ core skills, by grouping those with comparable skills in bands. That makes for cleaner, more consistent comparisons and provides another prism for analyzing pay equity.
“The old pay scales were all structured around getting promotions,” said Discovery senior executive vice president of human resources Adria Alpert Romm. “The new program created broader career bands that provide lateral mobility with financial rewards and increased responsibility. It was an important cultural change for us.”
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