Dive Brief:
- Women in the C-suite earn less than men in every job category, with the largest disparities among chief information officers (CIOs), public relations VPs, chief revenue officers (CROs) and chief marketing officers (CMO), a new Comparably analysis on executive pay shows. Black C-suite officers are paid the least across most executive titles, as well.
- Sales VPs are the highest paid members of the C-suite in total compensation (base pay plus bonuses) at $302,294 annually, according to the report. Close behind are CMOs at $297,831 and then CROs at $254,844.
- Chief product officers have the highest base pay ($211,360), followed by chief operating officers ($193,192). HR VPs had the eighth highest base pay of all executive titles ($183,848). By region, San Francisco has the highest paid executives, and Austin, Texas, the lowest. Comparably compiled the data from nearly 7,000 anonymous salary records of C-Suite or VP-level positions, based on gender, ethnicity, education, experience and region.
Dive Insight:
Studies continue to show that women are regularly paid less than men for comparable work. And Comparably's review isn't the first study to find a race-based pay disparity, either. A recent PayScale report found that people of color were less likely than white men to receive a raise as requested, and a 2017 Ascend Leadership report concluded that the tech industry has a bigger problem with race discrimination than gender discrimination.
Hiring more women and people of color is often cited as a solution to pay inequity, but as the Comparably study shows, even in organizations where both groups have some representation on the executive level, pay disparities persist.
Employers are increasingly reviewing their pay practices, flagging disparities and devising ways to correct problems. Starbucks, Citigroup and Silicon Valley Bank said they are addressing gender- and race-based pay disparities through data analysis and other efforts. Others have ended the practice of asking about salary history — both to end the possibility of past disparities affecting future pay and in response to a slew of states and cities passing bans on the question.