The State of Pay Equity in 2022

We know inclusive employers earn higher revenue and grow faster. We know they enjoy 87% less attrition, are 70% more likely to win new markets, and create 2.3x more cash flow per employee. 

So why do women still make $0.82 to every $1 earned by men, a ratio that hasn’t budged in 15 years? 

CEOs are in the driver's seat of institutional pay equity change.

To answer this question, OpenComp commissioned its first-annual report to uncover what prevents and encourages pay equity. This report reflects the insights of 500 high-growth executives at companies of less than 500 employees.

Today, we are excited to release our pay equity analysis “The 2022 State of Startup’s Pay Equity.” From top barriers to and accelerants of progress, the overall findings are clear. Intentions and outcomes are not aligned in the high-growth marketplace. And systemic change can only happen if CEOs and company leaders champion that change from the top down. 

Systemic change can only happen if CEOs and company leaders champion it from the top down.

The State of Startup’s Pay Equity in 2022

Following is a summary of the 2022 report’s pay equity analysis results. 

Pay equity matters to most high-growth executives, especially CEOs.

The majority (74%) of high-growth executives say pay equity is important, especially CEOs (78%). Nearly two-thirds (64%) believe pay equity is a top priority at their organization, and CEOs are 9% more likely to strongly agree.

Pay equity greatly influences recruiting and retaining the best talent.

More than two-thirds (67%) agree with this statement. CEOs are 6% more likely to strongly agree.

While 78% of CEOs say pay equity is important, and 73% say it influences recruiting and retaining top talent, the majority of their teams lack resources to address pay equity.

The majority of teams lack resources to address pay equity.

CEOs aren’t in tune with the reality that most of their teams (61%) lack adequate resources to address pay equity. In fact, CEOs are 15% more likely to be unaware of this fact than HR leaders.

Three top barriers to action stand in the way.
Access to compensation data (19%), leadership buy-in (15%), and time (13%) are the largest barriers to solving pay inequality.

Organizations that prioritize pay equity use seven top best practices.
Download the report and attend our upcoming webinar to learn what they are.

The urgency to pay competitively, consistently and fairly — while effectively managing cash burn and equity dilution — has grown in recent months. We’ve seen new pay transparency laws, employee activism and an incredibly dynamic, distributed employment market reshape what compensation means today. 

Systemic change can only happen when CEOs and company leaders champion institutional change from the top down.

Download the full pay equity analysis report here to enact pay equity change today.

__________________________________________________________________

Caitlin Allen is VP Marketing at OpenComp and has served in similar roles at Happy Returns, Lyft, and Andreessen Horowitz. She also writes about topics including marketing, sales compensation, and happiness. Connect with her on LinkedIn here.