Its male CEO is named a Global Champion of Women in Business after bold pay equity moves
The second-ranked Global Champion of Women in Business is a man - Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of American cloud computing company Salesforce.
In 2015, Benioff spearheaded an equal pay assessment throughout his organization to see if men and women were paid equally.
The results were wanting. Wages for both men and women needed adjusting, so Salesforce spent $3 million to "eliminate statistically significant differences" in pay.
Two years later, another review found more pay discrepancies, and another $3 million was spent addressing them.
The company will continue to monitor future gender gaps in pay.
Aside from the salary reviews, Benioff also requires that 30% of the attendees of every company meeting be women. He grants equality awards for trailblazers on equal rights in business, government, and nonprofits.
Salesforce, with headquarters in San Francisco, was established in 1999. With a market capitalization of $66 billion, it is one of the world’s largest companies.
Salesforce has also been recognized as a top employer for women across different rankings.
In 2016, the White House launched the Equal Pay Pledge to encourage American companies to take action in advancing equal pay. Benioff was one of the signatories to the pledge.
The year before, women working full time in the US made just 80% of what their male counterparts made. The pay gap is even greater for African American (63%) and Latina women (54%).
It’s been improving. Latest data from the US Census Bureau places the figure at 85%.
Still, the gender wage gap continues to be a very real and persistent problem that continues to shortchange American women and their families, the White House said in a statement.
More champions
Others cited as Global Champions for Women in Business, compiled by the Financial Times and HERoes, a workplace diversity advocacy group, were to Rana Ghandour Salhab (Deloitte), Teresa Ko (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer), Peter Grauer (Bloomberg), Cate Luzio (HSBC), Heidi Toribio (Standard Chartered), Miki Tsusaka (The Boston Consulting Group), Claudia Parzani (Linklaters), Jean Wynn (BNY Mellon), and Sheri Mullen (GSK).
While many companies work hard at promoting workplace diversity and equal pay, a few – like these champions - invest major sums to immediately fix the problem. They also toil to put more women in executive roles.
Related stories:
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Why are companies' gender equality efforts failing?
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