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Intel applies hobnailed boot to countries where its men and women workers aren't paid the same

While others fidget awkwardly, silicon slinger hits 'pay equity'

Intel took time out from its hardware woes to buff its inclusivity halo and announce it had reached gender "pay equity" globally.

While the company has failed to deliver much in the way of 10nm chippery and has had problems stamping out the stuff it actually knows how to make, it said it has been able to achieve what few in the tech world have managed: "pay equity".

By this it means, "on average", equal pay for equal work in the same or similar roles after accounting for things like "tenure, performance, time at grade level" et cetera.

It is no mean feat for the silicon botherer. Intel has a workforce of around 107,000 employees over 50 countries, so dealing with gaps presents a challenge.

The UK, for example, requires companies like Intel to produce a gender pay gap report, which makes it relatively easy to track progress. Back in 2017, the company reckoned UK employees, at least, were enjoying a gender pay gap of zero. For equivalent jobs, of course.

However, the mix of the UK workforce meant that the mean hourly rate of pay for women was lower by 32.6 per cent, compared to the UK national median pay gap of 18.4 per cent. The mean bonus pay was lower by 46.4 per cent.

This gap was down to the gender breakdown in roles, with 80 per cent of senior roles occupied by men, according to the chip giant.

While Intel said it had increased its hiring rate of women in the UK to 40 per cent to address the imbalance – following an "unbiased approach to recruitment" – getting equity of pay on a global scale has been more difficult.

In its efforts to close the gap in average pay between employees of different genders or races and ethnicities, the company plugged bonuses such as stock grants into the equation and brought in third parties to cut through Intel's morass of regional pay awards to identify countries where a gap existed.

The affected employees then enjoyed an "adjustment".

The net result is that the company reckons that, when all compensation is taken into account, it is now paying employees of the same tenure, location, time at grade and "performance" the same across the company.

Now, like the majority of tech companies, it needs to deal with that pesky gender split. ®

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