2007 PAR Initiative Pay Equity Five-Year Key Findings

The cable industry has shown tremendous progress implementing pay equity programs during the last five years. In 2003, the majority, 71.4 percent, of cable companies in the sample did not have any formal pay equity policy. Now, that number has nearly reversed: 60 percent have formal pay equity policies. Of those, 40 percent have “good” policies that state pay equity in the company’s own terms and reflect the company’s culture and priorities. The remaining 20 percent have “basic” policies, stated in generic terms.

Companies that are focused on pay equity conduct regular internal surveys and frequent external benchmarking to ensure that women are paid fairly. The proportion of companies that offer basic pay surveys has remained about the same over the five years; beginning at 42.9 percent in 2003, it now stands at 40 percent. The proportion of companies that conduct “good” pay equity surveys was 50 percent in 2003 and is down to 34.3 percent in 2007. Companies that had good survey practices in 2003 have continued to improve them, and have been joined by some companies that previously had “basic” practices. None of the PAR Initiative participants have dropped from “good” to “basic” in its pay equity survey practices.