Agency Gender Pay Gap Commitments
Research by Jess Watts, CSO and Dr. Nancy Wayne, Professor Emerita at UCLA, found women in advertising are paid 5% less than men for the same work, and 8% less if they were mothers, with several social factors influencing the gap. Agencies must act to change this to ensure advertising—which both reflects and shapes culture—equitably values and retains women.
Below are pay equity actions DNA&STONE have committed to based on the research findings, which we invite other agencies to commit to as well:
1. Annual Pay Equity Audit
We commit to reviewing employee pay to determine if a gender-based pay gap may be at play, every year. This audit will account for total compensation, including base, bonus and alternate benefits to get a full understanding of total equity and potentially unseen biased trends. Any pay gaps that are identified will be corrected immediately, and retroactively. This data will include a long-term trend view by employee to ensure we are not inadvertently contributing to the motherhood penalty.
2. Publish Clear, Roles-Based Pay Bands Internally
Transparency is one of the strongest predictors of pay equity. Within each department, pay ranges will be made easily accessible for every title and level, not just the band employees are currently in. Clear guidance will be provided on two things: understanding pay structures at our agency, and how pay decisions are made (e..g, what differentiates “does not meet”, “meets,” “exceeds”, “exception”). This allows employees to know their benchmark for pay, and how to grow their compensation without guessing or self-advocating harder than peers.
3. Standardize Titles and Leveling Across the Agency
Title inflation and inconsistency often mask pay gaps, which, coupled with workforce changes and scope creep, can lead to women doing significantly more work for less than fair pay. To ensure equal work = equal title = equal pay, we commit to creating a single leveling framework across strategy, creative, accounts, media, ops. This framework will categorize job roles into a hierarchy based on responsibilities, impact, and expertise.
4. Track and Correct Opportunity Equity in Macro Reviews
Pay gaps can start with who gets the big, important projects. Homosocial reproduction is the tendency of people in positions of power to select, hire, or promote individuals who are socially, demographically, or culturally similar to themselves. Managers will assess and report out across their department who led marquee accounts, pitches, and high-visibility projects, as well as an employee's historical performance and promotions, to give a full picture on if women are equally represented in revenue-driving and growth opportunities.
5. Request for promotion or pay adjustments automatically escalated
To prevent managers from making biased advancement decisions unevenly for women, we require pay requests to not be limited to the direct manager level. Formal requests about promotion or pay discrepancies are immediately escalated to both HR and the department head within 2 weeks of notice with manager recommendation, with the goal of a response or resolution within 60 days. Manager recommendations must include a check against our pay audit data and internal roles-based pay bands to balance supervisor subjectivity.
6. Publish and communicate pay discussions as a protected right
To encourage discussion and transparency, we will include language in our employee handbook that lets employees know discussion on pay is a federally protected right. This right will also be included in performance reviews.
