Dow Jones Says It Didn't Find Pay Bias
December 07 2016 - 7:20PM
Dow Jones News
A review of pay equity at Dow Jones & Co., parent of The
Wall Street Journal, found that employee salaries didn't vary based
on gender or ethnicity, the company said Wednesday.
The study followed an analysis earlier this year by the labor
union representing about one-third of employees at Dow Jones, a
unit of News Corp. The union said it found significant
discrepancies when comparing the pay of unionized minority and
female staffers with their white, male colleagues.
The company's analysis, comprising an external review by
consultancy Willis Towers Watson as well as an internal review,
determined that "less than 3% of our employees, a group that
included both men and women and spanned multiple ethnicities,
needed adjustments to align their salaries with those of colleagues
as well as the overall marketplace."
The company said changes in pay had already been made for
nonunion staff needing adjustments, and the same would be done for
affected union employees in January.
A top official at the union representing Dow Jones staff, the
Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, said he can't
draw any conclusions unless the company shares detailed data on its
findings. "I find it hard to believe only 3% of employees are in
need of a salary adjustment," said IAPE Executive Director Tim
Martell.
A Dow Jones spokeswoman declined to release details about how
the company arrived at its conclusions, but said the discrepancy
between its findings and the union figures were largely because it
looked at a "deeper and broader set of global figures."
The union's survey had looked at the salary figures of about
1,300 union-covered employees in the U.S. and Canada, which
includes a large portion of the company's editorial staff. Dow
Jones's corporate analysis looked at the salaries of its 4,400
staff members world-wide, which includes many employees outside the
newsroom.
IAPE said it is preparing to release a more detailed analysis in
coming weeks. The union's first report on the issue in March found
that women in the union make 13.2% less annually than men and that
unionized minority staffers at Dow Jones were paid less than white
employees.
Other media organizations have faced their own internal
questions about pay equity. In May, the New York Times' union, the
News Guild of New York, highlighted what it said was a pay gap for
women and minorities at the paper.
In October, the Times said the union analysis relied on
incomplete data and that a full survey done by the company "found
no evidence of discrimination in how employees are compensated,"
according to a memo sent to staff. The Times said it adjusted the
pay of some employees.
The disputes over pay equity come amid upheaval at newspapers as
declines in print advertising revenue have accelerated.
In recent months, the Journal has instituted costs cuts through
buyouts and layoffs and by combining sections of the print
newspaper. The Times has warned of staffing reductions early next
year. Last month, IAPE and Dow Jones reached a new contract after
months of negotiations.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 07, 2016 19:05 ET (00:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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