Link to Article
Summary:
On Wednesday, Starbucks announced that it has achieved 100% pay equity for women, men, and all races. Starbucks’s executive vice president Lucy Helm announced during the annual shareholder meeting in Seattle that Starbucks’s is ready for a change in not only talking about the gender pay gap but addressing it. Starbucks has always made employee benefits a priority, but Helm wants to do more. They have created tools that allow them to approach this in an objective and consistent manner. The company wants to achieve and create a culture where employees can discuss wages without fear or discrimination or retaliation.
Analysis:
This is definitely a big step forward for pay equity for all genders and races. I do believe that this will prompt other businesses to do the same as Starbucks. As we learned in class, there are four tiers of human capital -- unskilled, semiskilled, skilled, and professional. Because of this, some people could have different opinions on how wages are determined. It is impossible to calculate one’s skill sets because there are endless factors that can determine how well an individual can carry tasks needed for the job.
Questions:
1. Do you think other companies will follow Starbucks in their efforts to achieve equity for all genders and races?
2. How do you think employees will respond to this?
3. How do you think employers should determine salary and benefits?
11 comments:
I definitely think that other companies should change their policies to allow everyone equal pay regardless of their gender, race, etc. I agree with Kalena that since Starbucks is such a big company, people who work for other companies will see this change and will work to push their employers for the same change within their work place. I think that the way employers determine salary based off of human capital and difficulty of the job is good, and I definitely don't think that they should also base pay off of gender or race.
I think that this action by Starbucks is an important step forward towards ultimately achieving pay equality across all companies. In the article, it stated that it took Starbucks 10 years to achieve pay equality — though it took a long time, it’s great that a huge company was committed to and worked consistently to reach their goal. Though a sudden change to implement equal pay policies across all companies won’t happen immediately, I hope that now companies and employers can either start or continue implementing changes to their system and committing to achieving an ultimate goal of equality in the workforce.
I think it's great that a large company like Starbucks took this step forward. It's a bit sad that it took this long, but the what's most important that it was done. I'm sure all current employees at Starbucks are thrilled that there's no difference in pay due to gender or racial differences, and it encourages other workers to apply because they know that there's no pay difference now. For the third question, I think that employers should base a starting salary and benefits based off of a person's qualifications, as those are really what determine how beneficial a person is to a company. Race and gender are not indicative of a person's work ethic, and should not be a factor when deciding how much to pay an employee.
I disagree with the previous comments that Starbucks' success with pay equality will encourage other big companies to do the same. Many other giant corporations have men in power, unlike Starbucks with Helm as its one of its big heads. I believe that a lot of companies say that they make equal pay a priority, but I don't think they take much action, especially in the tech industry where the people who simply work in the company is unbalanced. I think it will take more women and people of color in leadership positions to make these changes. Often, people do not know how to make change if they do not realize the impacts of the problems.
Though it is true that many giant corporations have men in power, my hope is that these corporations look to Starbucks as proof that 100% pay equity for a variety of demographics is possible. It’s hard to say whether or not many of them will actually follow in the footsteps of Starbucks, but they can definitely look to the chain as a model for implementing similar changes and policies. I think more people will be inspired to work for Starbucks. In terms of how employers should determine salary and benefits, I think, to some extent, they should consider skill and amount of time the person has been working for the company.
I think that this a huge step forward as Starbucks is a large and well-known company. It also shows other corporations that these discussions over equal pay should happen and that it is possible to achieve. I hope that other companies follow Starbucks as equal wage is important. Employers should not base one's wage on their race or gender, but they should take into consideration the difficulty of the job and the work ethic of the employee.
I think this is super important and great progress. Since Starbucks is such a big company I do think other businesses will follow. It would be interesting to see if the employees agree with the company's claim that there is equity for all genders and races. Hopefully that is what they have observed from working inside the business. I think employers should determine salary purely based on a person's qualifications, experience and employability skills.
I believe that this is monumental progress because Starbucks is seen as a large and well-known company. I think it'll serve as a ripple effect as other big corporations and businesses will piggy back off of Starbuck's values. I think that these discussions over equal pay ensure fairness and that is a good goal for every company because it promotes equity. I think employers should base one's wage on their hard work, work ethic, diligence, skillfullness and all their assets/qualifications as opposed to their race or gender.
I believe that other companies should follow in Starbucks' footsteps. I'm glad that a company as large as Starbucks has taken a huge step for all women. As we learned, people respond to incentives, and this will only motivate more women to search for work that will treat them equally to others. But I do believe that after equity is reached, they must take experience and effort into account when determining a salary.
I think that it is great to see Starbucks having equal pay. Starbucks is an extremely large business and I hope many others will follow its footsteps. While it is definitely a good act, I feel as those other companies might not want to follow through with equal wages because it simply cost more money and it could hurt their revenue. Like Kevin mentioned, I think that salary on gender is not ideal but salary should be determined off skill.
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