Apple says male UK staff earn average of 5 percent more than women

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On average, men at Apple's U.K. operations earn 5 percent more than women, the company revealed on Tuesday, a day ahead of a deadline for British companies over 250 people to disclose their gender gaps.




Women do however come ahead by 2 percent when going by median, Reuters reported. Apple said the discrepancy in average is attributable to having more men in senior roles, who in turn get higher salaries, bonuses, and stock grants.

30 percent of the company's U.K. staff are women, up from 28 percent in 2014, Apple noted. The company has over 6,000 local workers in all.

In a statement, Apple said it would take steps to try and close any gaps, for instance no longer asking hires for their salary histories as of this year.

The multinational company regularly prides itself on its attempts to reduce racial and gender gaps in labor. Nevertheless, significant differences remain -- an internal report in November pegged its international gender split as 68 percent male and 32 percent female, with only 29 percent of leadership roles being in female hands.

Among top-level executives, 5 out of 16 are women, among them retail head Angela Ahrendts and general counsel Katherine Adams. The board of directors has two women, Andrea Jung and Susan Wagner.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 43
    tylersdadtylersdad Posts: 310member
    It is MEANINGLESS to attempt to compare salaries in this way. If you want to know if there is truly any sort of wage gap, compare by job function. How much does the average male Software Engineer 2 (for instance) make? How much does the average female Software Engineer 2 make? I'd be willing to bet that the comparison is very close. 

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    tallest skilSpamSandwichandrewj5790georgie01toysandmebrucemc[Deleted User]designr
  • Reply 2 of 43
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Instead of comparing two gender's earnings, also compare overtime put by counterpart males to achieve more. Moreover, male don't have ongoing emotional as well monthly mood,hormone issues that effects individual productivity. We respect and care for both male and female gender and also want both to succeed equally in there profession but biological differences dictates to complain to God who in fact created two genders like that. I like to have 5% increment in earnings being a female employee for the same kind of work. So, if you are male,sorry suck it up.
    edited April 2018 tallest skilallmypeople
  • Reply 3 of 43
    anton zuykovanton zuykov Posts: 1,056member
    tylersdad said:
    It is MEANINGLESS to attempt to compare salaries in this way. If you want to know if there is truly any sort of wage gap, compare by job function. How much does the average male Software Engineer 2 (for instance) make? How much does the average female Software Engineer 2 make? I'd be willing to bet that the comparison is very close. 

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    Are you trying to say that we should compare performance and quality of work in order to determine if salaries were given out fairly? Are you insane? What's next? Grades in schools and grade based system in universities? Valuing athletes based on how fast they run and how far they jump? What a ridiculous system!
    /s
    tallest skilallmypeople[Deleted User]GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 4 of 43
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    tylersdad said:

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    Yep, women are using their superior social skills to take over society. Which is not the end of the world, but something tells me they will run more totalitarian societies than men did.
    lkruppSpamSandwichanton zuykov[Deleted User]GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 5 of 43
    tylersdad said:
    It is MEANINGLESS to attempt to compare salaries in this way. If you want to know if there is truly any sort of wage gap, compare by job function. How much does the average male Software Engineer 2 (for instance) make? How much does the average female Software Engineer 2 make? I'd be willing to bet that the comparison is very close. 

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    Are you trying to say that we should compare performance and quality of work in order to determine if salaries were given out fairly? Are you insane? What's next? Grades in schools and grade based system in universities? Valuing athletes based on how fast they run and how far they jump? What a ridiculous system!
    /s
    Read carefully and pay attention. Do notmake up philosophy by extension. Amalysis is inaccurate and it does not account for fair comparison on the same job level. If one group is under represented in some role then you will have average biased in some direction obviously.
  • Reply 6 of 43
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    I’d pay the hot ones a little more just because they’re hot.
    tallest skiltylersdadgeorgie01toysandmemike54[Deleted User]sdw2001GeorgeBMacking editor the grate
  • Reply 7 of 43
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    ascii said:
    ...something tells me they will run more totalitarian societies than men did.
    Given that human history is the story of men fighting and dying by the billions for less government control and women getting suffrage to vote in more government control, I’d say you’re right on the money.
    If one group is under represented in some role...
    Your statements are predicated upon a worldview of unimpeachable egalitarianism. This is not something reflected in reality, and is thus not of much use. 

    EDIT: Let me clarify. Not only is it not reflected in reality, it is not the nature of reality to be egalitarian, and by that metric it is not of much use to envision such a system.
    edited April 2018 tylersdadallmypeopleSpamSandwich
  • Reply 8 of 43
    tylersdadtylersdad Posts: 310member
    tylersdad said:
    It is MEANINGLESS to attempt to compare salaries in this way. If you want to know if there is truly any sort of wage gap, compare by job function. How much does the average male Software Engineer 2 (for instance) make? How much does the average female Software Engineer 2 make? I'd be willing to bet that the comparison is very close. 

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    Are you trying to say that we should compare performance and quality of work in order to determine if salaries were given out fairly? Are you insane? What's next? Grades in schools and grade based system in universities? Valuing athletes based on how fast they run and how far they jump? What a ridiculous system!
    /s
    I KNOW!!! It's insanity!!! :)
    allmypeopleGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 9 of 43
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    When male doesn’t mean male, female doesn’t mean female, and gender is whatever a person feels like it is, how do you define a gender pay gap?  Maybe the company will just have some of the highest paid executives start “identifying” as the opposite sex to balance the gap.
    randominternetpersonallmypeopleradarthekatgeorgie01mariowinco[Deleted User]designr
  • Reply 10 of 43
    Roger_FingasRoger_Fingas Posts: 148member, editor
    Please watch the attitudes in your posts here. We can keep comments open, but we expect you to be respectful and civil.
    fastasleepSpamSandwichmariowinco
  • Reply 11 of 43
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,332member
    The prevailing compensation systems that pit employees against each other based on several factors, some generally known and others entrenched in hidden biases, are regressive, medieval, and a cancer on productivity. This is no more apparent than in organizations that are committed to discovery and innovation, like Apple. Employees in companies like Apple generally aren’t motivated by money but rather by opportunity and a desire to contribute in a meaningful and purposeful way. Discord related to compensation is always a negative drain and is cruel and destructive when HR practices like forced ranking are institutionalized.

    The best thing that can be done to remedy this situation and return the total focus of an organization to maximum productivity with happy employees is to make the compensation system a non-issue. I don’t know of a “perfect” system but there are some long established examples that have done a reasonable job of making compensation a non-issue so that the total focus of the organization on fulfilling the organization’s mission, e.g., the US military. Compensation for military members is based on concrete and established factors like rank, time-in-service, time-in-rank, and in some cases mission related adders. Gender and other bias driven factors aren’t in the equation. The salient point is that the entire compensation system is public knowledge within the organization and everyone basically knows what everyone else in the organization is making. This makes compensation a non-issue and totally transparent so everyone stays focused on the mission. It’s pretty obvious why this is vital to an organization that literally lives or dies based on mission effectiveness and productivity. Why would non-military related organizations with billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of employees not attempt to implement some sort of compensation model, whatever it may be, that suppresses all the negative influences of current medieval based models and puts total focus back on productivity? 

    The metrics identified in the above report deserve a closer analysis by Apple HR staff and senior management, but this is just one icicle on the visible part of an iceberg that is killing motivation, throttling productivity, and making employees miserable. C’mon Apple, break the mold.
    tallest skilGG1
  • Reply 12 of 43
    roake said:
    When male doesn’t mean male, female doesn’t mean female, and gender is whatever a person feels like it is, how do you define a gender pay gap?  Maybe the company will just have some of the highest paid executives start “identifying” as the opposite sex to balance the gap.
    I'd love to see a CEO like Musk or Cook issue a press release saying that they now consider themselves female, thereby single-handedly fixing the wage gap for their company.
    SpamSandwichgeorgie01toysandmetallest skilallmypeople[Deleted User]GG1
  • Reply 13 of 43
    tylersdad said:
    It is MEANINGLESS to attempt to compare salaries in this way. If you want to know if there is truly any sort of wage gap, compare by job function. How much does the average male Software Engineer 2 (for instance) make? How much does the average female Software Engineer 2 make? I'd be willing to bet that the comparison is very close. 

    The so-called gender wage gap is really just a justification for hiring more women in senior roles. 
    Not knowing the complete data set articles/findings like this is meaningless.  But someone with an agenda will try to make something of it.
    mike54[Deleted User]
  • Reply 14 of 43
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    “What a load of rubbish!”
    —Popular British Saying
  • Reply 15 of 43
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member
    Tim Cook earns way more than a woman working in a local Apple store, how is this fair! /s.
    andrewj5790georgie01SpamSandwichtoysandme[Deleted User]
  • Reply 16 of 43
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    dewme said:
    The prevailing compensation systems that pit employees against each other based on several factors, some generally known and others entrenched in hidden biases, are regressive, medieval, and a cancer on productivity. This is no more apparent than in organizations that are committed to discovery and innovation, like Apple. Employees in companies like Apple generally aren’t motivated by money but rather by opportunity and a desire to contribute in a meaningful and purposeful way. Discord related to compensation is always a negative drain and is cruel and destructive when HR practices like forced ranking are institutionalized.

    The best thing that can be done to remedy this situation and return the total focus of an organization to maximum productivity with happy employees is to make the compensation system a non-issue. I don’t know of a “perfect” system but there are some long established examples that have done a reasonable job of making compensation a non-issue so that the total focus of the organization on fulfilling the organization’s mission, e.g., the US military. Compensation for military members is based on concrete and established factors like rank, time-in-service, time-in-rank, and in some cases mission related adders. Gender and other bias driven factors aren’t in the equation. The salient point is that the entire compensation system is public knowledge within the organization and everyone basically knows what everyone else in the organization is making. This makes compensation a non-issue and totally transparent so everyone stays focused on the mission. It’s pretty obvious why this is vital to an organization that literally lives or dies based on mission effectiveness and productivity. Why would non-military related organizations with billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of employees not attempt to implement some sort of compensation model, whatever it may be, that suppresses all the negative influences of current medieval based models and puts total focus back on productivity? 

    The metrics identified in the above report deserve a closer analysis by Apple HR staff and senior management, but this is just one icicle on the visible part of an iceberg that is killing motivation, throttling productivity, and making employees miserable. C’mon Apple, break the mold.
    That’s because the military exists somewhat outside the competitive job market offered by businesses.  Volunteers become locked in to four year, and sometimes six year, contracts, and the scope of military jobs are defined to fit with that length of service, including necessary periods of training.  

    In the far more cutthroat competition among businesses in the civilian sector each business wants to use salary as one competitive tool to acquire and retain the best employees in an at-will employment structure.  A company that makes all salaries equal within each job and makes that information public to all employees, and therefore to its competitors, had better be paying better than its competitors, or it will find itself at a disadvantage to those other businesses who do not make this information public and can therefore pay any individual they see as higher value to their mission a higher salary and compensation package versus its other employees in that same job.  And they can expand or narrow an individual’s job description to match, or take advantage of, the individual’s unique capabilities and knowledge. 

    Only if all businesses standardize salaries and make that public would your suggestion work.  That’s the reason it can work for the military; each branch might be in competition with the others for recruits, but they all pay the same by rank, time in service and job classification/hazardous duty, etc.  
    edited April 2018 GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 17 of 43
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    wood1208 said:
    Instead of comparing two gender's earnings, also compare overtime put by counterpart males to achieve more. Moreover, male don't have ongoing emotional as well monthly mood,hormone issues that effects individual productivity. We respect and care for both male and female gender and also want both to succeed equally in there profession but biological differences dictates to complain to God who in fact created two genders like that. I like to have 5% increment in earnings being a female employee for the same kind of work. So, if you are male,sorry suck it up.
    Wow! Jesus Fucking Christ! If that was an attempt at humour it didn’t land.

    fastasleep
  • Reply 18 of 43
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    lmasanti said:
    Now, the question is: Will they rise the women's payment or lower men's?

    No. If the discrepancy is entirely due to the lack of women at higher levels in the organisation, then they will need to promote more women to senior levels. At the very least, they need to look at why there are more men than women at those levels, and see what, if anything, can be done about it. It may turn out there are reasons for it that are unrelated to the broader issues of gender inequality. Past experience would tend to dictate that this is unlikely, though.

    Still, on the face of it, 5% is pretty impressive. I suspect most companies, especially tech companies, fare much worse.

    Soli said:
    wood1208 said:
    Instead of comparing two gender's earnings, also compare overtime put by counterpart males to achieve more. Moreover, male don't have ongoing emotional as well monthly mood,hormone issues that effects individual productivity. We respect and care for both male and female gender and also want both to succeed equally in there profession but biological differences dictates to complain to God who in fact created two genders like that. I like to have 5% increment in earnings being a female employee for the same kind of work. So, if you are male,sorry suck it up.
    Wow! Jesus Fucking Christ! If that was an attempt at humour it didn’t land.

    What do you mean? It's a brilliant parody of typical gender inequality denialism. I mean they go straight from "Men work harder" to "but women have hormones, periods, and stuff...", and then constructs a strawman about paying women more for the same work than men. That's just genius. Unless, of course, they actually believe it, but that couldn't be possible, could it?
    Soli
  • Reply 19 of 43
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    anome said:
    ...then they will need to...
    Why?
    It may turn out there are reasons for it that are unrelated to the broader issues of gender inequality. Past experience would tend to dictate that this is unlikely, though.
    Hmm... how many female coal miners are there?
    SpamSandwichmike54
  • Reply 20 of 43
    toysandmetoysandme Posts: 243member
    I am amazed that nobody has mentioned the work of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson on the myths surrounding the difference between men and women regarding salaries, etc. Start here: Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests and postmodernism
    allmypeopleSpamSandwich
This discussion has been closed.