World Economic Forum Book Club discussion
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Trailblazer
November 2019
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Chapter 6 - Marc Benioff's Trailblazer
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In March 2015, two of our author's colleagues, Cindy Robbins and Leyla Seka, told Marc Benioff Salesforce had a gender pay gap issue. "We need to determine if pay inequality exists here" - his initial reaction was to be defensive, but he then realised it had to be tackled.
"Holding equality as a value is not just a matter of fairness, or doing the right thing. Nor is it about PR, or "optics", or even my own conscience. It's a crucial part of building a good business, plain and simple."
Cindy and Leyla knew there was a big difference between salaries: "Men at my level are buying expensive Teslas." They decided to launch an investigation into the various salaries - going one person at a time, from top to bottom. When the assessment was over, they saw that the pay gap was well and truly alive in Salesforce. Not only that, 6% of employees needed salary adjustments. They paid over 3 million dollars to fix this issue. But when paid, they realised the problem wouldn't go away with incoming employees. When buying out companies, they also bought their pay gap. They quickly came up with solutions to ensure this didn't happen.
Marc Benioff also mentions the "unconscious bias" he had, and that many people have in the workplace. A colleague called him out when he shook 4 male employee's hands, but hugged the woman. "That diminished her. They are all professionals." Mentorship programs were set up at Salesforce for both men and women to be more aware and see how they could improve on these issues.
What do you think? Does the company you work at have a pay gap? Any questions for Marc Benioff? Comment them below! We don't have enough questions for him so post!!