Investing in Opportunity
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We have all heard the catchphrase, “equal pay for equal work.” In reality, according to the U.S. Department of Labor women earn $0.79 for every $1.00 earned by men, on average across the U.S. Of course, that statistic doesn’t tell the whole story: For example, it fails to consider that women have higher representation in some lower-paying industries, or sacrifices they may have to make for family needs. It also leaves out the potential gap felt by other under-represented racial and ethnic groups.
Paychecks are important, not only because they cover the needs of employees and their families, but also because they are an important indicator of fair treatment. Today we are happy to report that, taking into consideration job and geography, our female employees earn 99 cents for every dollar earned by male employees in the U.S. There is also no wage gap between U.S. white and non-white Adobe employees.
While these results are good, we still have work to do to measure and drive what really matters: opportunity. Opportunity is not only the role and pay you have today, but the roles and pay you can achieve in the future. That opportunity should be equal, regardless of gender, race, national origin, sexual orientation, age, or any other characteristic.
Many Silicon Valley companies have a low representation of women and racial and ethnic minorities, and the picture further deteriorates as you look further up the corporate ladder. Indeed, our own Adobe numbers are not where we want them to be and we are actively working to focus on attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce through a three-pronged strategy:
First, we are investing in building a diverse talent pipeline. We need to start early, with programs like Girls Who Code and Technovation making tech careers more accessible and appealing to young people. We need to invest in helping university students pursue a tech career through scholarships and internship opportunities. We need to break down common tech stereotypes and show that the tech category and companies thrive when they have more diverse teams.
Second, we need to broaden our recruiting efforts to ensure a diverse candidate pool. This includes some practices in wide adoption now, like unconscious bias training and diverse interview panels. But it also includes broadening our recruiting lens, both by visiting a wider range of universities and recruiting more experienced hires out of other industries. Equally important, it includes looking within and continuing to give new opportunities to our own employees. At any given point, around 25% of our open roles are filled internally. The opportunity for our diverse employees to take new internal roles means new challenges, opportunities to learn new skills and gain new experiences and the ability to keep moving forward without needing to change companies.
Finally, we are committed to helping all employees continue to grow once they’re here at Adobe. Living a full, authentic life makes for more productive and satisfied employees. To that point, we have made great progress in building out our employee networks – ranging from our Black Employee Network to AdobeProud, our LGBTQ network – to help employees connect and share experiences with one another. Employees with families are supported with industry-leading time off policies and benefits that help them better integrate their work and personal lives. And employees are actively mentored and given opportunities to pursue whatever career challenges they desire and shape their own paths.
We will continue to report our pay data annually in our corporate responsibility report and take steps to create an environment where employees feel they are respected and treated equitably. Investing to bring out the best in everyone, regardless of gender or background, contributes to the success of the business and the most important asset – our people.
More information on Adobe’s diversity and inclusion programs is available on our website.