You Thought Media Was Bad? Here Are The Tech Players With The Biggest Gender Pay Gaps

Yesterday B&T gave you the low down on the gender pay gaps for media agencies and owners released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). However, with big tech’s integral place in the advertising and marketing ecosystem, we decided to give them the same level of scrutiny. 

At an industry level, the average gender pay gap for professional, scientific, and technical services (the category that TikTok sits in) was a whopping 20.3 per cent. This was more than double the average base salary gap of 11.5 per cent for internet publishing and broadcasters.

Meanwhile, the average pay gap for internet service providers, web search portals, and data processing services (the category that Google sits in) was 12.7 per cent, still above that for internet publishers and broadcasters. 

The gender split itself was particularly bad in this sector with women making up just 30 per cent of the workforce. 

Facebook stood out as one of the few tech companies and seemed to have relative pay parity. The social media company had a median base salary pay gap of -1.7 per cent and a median total remuneration pay gap of -2.6 per cent — meaning that women seem to get paid more than men for equal work. At the less positive end of the scale were Atlassian and TikTok which had median gender pay gaps of more than 15 per cent. 

However, it is worth noting that some of these players, while big in global terms have relatively small Australian footprints — meaning that these numbers are not necessarily representative of a company’s overall outlook.

Tech Companies With Pay Gaps Of More Than 15 per cent

Atlassian

Things weren’t looking great over at Atlassian which had a median base salary pay gap of 17.4 per cent. The median total remuneration gender pay gap was 18.1 per cent. Just 31 per cent of the workforce here is made up of women. 

At a senior management level, just 25 per cent of the workforce is women, compared to 75 per cent of men. 

In the upper quartile of pay women made up just 20 per cent of the workforce. 

In a statement Atlassian said: The gender pay gap measures the difference between the average earnings of men and women, irrespective of role or seniority – this is often referred to as an unadjusted pay gap. Atlassian’s median total remuneration gender pay gap is 18.1 per cent, and our median base salary gender pay gap is 17.4%. In this context, the median compares the earnings of the middle-ranking man to the middle-ranking woman.

Our gender pay gap is not a result of equal pay issues. In FY23, we conducted our first global pay equity audit – comparing salaries and earnings across similar roles, levels, and locations (often referred to as an adjusted pay gap). We found that Atlassians doing like-for-like work are paid fairly and equitably, regardless of gender.

TikTok Australia

TikTok also had a relatively large pay gap of 15.3 per cent for median base salary and 19.9 per cent for total remuneration. 

The total workforce was 56 per cent women and 44 per cent men. The upper quartile was made up of 57 per cent men and 43 per cent women. The lower quartile was made up of 69 per cent women and 31 per cent men. 

Senior managers were 59 per cent men and 41 per cent women. 

B&T contacted TikTok for comment.

Tech Companies With A Pay Gap Below 15 per cent

Google Australia

Google had a median base salary gender pay gap of 3.7 per cent, however, this grew substantially when we consider total remuneration. The median total remuneration gender pay gap was 14.9 per cent. 

The total workforce was made up of 67 per cent men and 33 per cent women. At a senior level there was a mix of 73 per cent men and 27 per cent women.  In the lower quartile, there was 57 per cent men and 43 per cent women. Just 38 per cent of executives and general managers were women. 

In response to the findings, Google Australia managing director and VP, Mel Silva said:

“For the purposes of the 2022-23 WGEA analysis, we have been required to compare the overall median earnings for men and women, meaning job level, performance, tenure, and role have not been factored in. It also means that men and women, in all roles, be it technical and non-technical, have been compared when considering median total and base compensation.

“At Google, we compensate Googlers based on what they do, not who they are. When we calculate employee pay, our teams consider variables such as the market rate for individual roles, their level within the company, promotion history, and their performance rating,” she added.

Adobe

Adobe had a median base salary gap of 10.2 per cent which increased to 12.5 per cent when we consider total remuneration. 

The total workforce was made up of 41 per cent women and 59 per cent men. The senior management level was made up of 34 per cent women and 66 per cent men. 

B&T contacted Adobe for comment.

Microsoft

Microsoft had a median base salary gender pay gap of 6.4 per cent, which increased to 9.7 per cent when total remuneration was taken into account. The total workforce is made up of 33 per cent women and 67 per cent men. 

For the upper quartile of pay, women make up just 32 per cent. At a senior management level, there is a split of 37 per cent women to 63 per cent men. The number decreases when looking at executives and general managers which are made up of 25 per cent women. 

B&T contacted Microsoft for comment.

Apple

Apple had a median base salary gender pay gap of 8.5 per cent which decreased to 5.5 per cent when we consider total remuneration. 

The total workforce was made up of 44 per cent women and 56 per cent men. The upper quartile level was made up of 39 per cent men and 61 per cent women. Just 17 per cent of executives and general managers were women, but at a senior manager level, this number was higher at 58 per cent. 

Amazon Australia

Amazon split its results up into three separate businesses. Its Commercial Services division, which operates the Amazon.com.au online marketplace and sells Amazon-branded products such as Kindle e-readers, saw a median base salary pay gap of 5.4 per cent and a total remuneration pay gap of 5.4 per cent. 

The Amazon Web Services division, which is involved in website hosting and other online services, had a median base salary pay gap of 8.9 per cent and a total remuneration median gender pay gap of 12.4 per cent 

The Amazon Corporate division, which provides marketing and other support services to its other two divisions saw a median base salary gender pay gap of 7.4 per cent and a total remuneration median pay gap of 12.8 per cent. 

Amazon Australia country manager, Janet Menzies told B&T: “We believe that creating a culture that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive is integral to people doing their best work, and essential to what we can achieve as a company. However, we acknowledge that there is still work to be done within our business. Amazon’s total remuneration gender pay and bonus gap results are above industry benchmark, and we are proud of our strong female leadership— in fact in Australia, Amazon’s Operations, Amazon.com.au, Amazon Web Services and Amazon Alexa teams all have women leaders. We believe that our ability to innovate on behalf of our customers relies on the perspectives and knowledge of people from all backgrounds. We actively recruit and develop people from diverse walks of life to build a supportive and inclusive workplace, and take steps to ensure employees have a sense of belonging, value, and opportunity. We believe that this is not only the right thing to do, but it also helps us attract, motivate, and keep top talent at Amazon.”

Standout Players

Facebook Australia

At Facebook, there was a median base salary gender pay gap of -1.7 per cent and a median total remuneration gender pay gap of -2.6 per cent. 

The total workforce is made up of 53 per cent women and 47 per cent men. The upper quartile was 44 per cent women and 56 per cent men. Things were equal at a management level with a 50/50 split. 

B&T contacted Facebook for comment.