Intel released a detailed gender pay gap report, joining companies including Citigroup and Starbucks that are disclosing wage information in response to shareholders calling for workplace equality.
The news wasn’t encouraging regarding diversity: more than half of Intel’s top 52 U.S. executives are white men. Asian men account for 21%, while there are only nine women.
“Our company still needs better female and underrepresented male representation in leadership positions in the U.S. and worldwide,” Intel said in a statement. “We are doubling down on our inclusion efforts.”
The trend in public companies is giving birth to a wave of startups dedicated to workforce diversity.
The increasing transparency in gender and racial pay gap is being driven by shareholder resolutions. Impact investor Arjuna Capital in February called for 11 major companies in tech, retail and banking to disclose their median gender pay gap.
Some early movers recognized the trend and started to invest in startups focusing on workplace equality. Four startups scored venture capital funding this year, raising $28.4 million in total, while only a year ago the only funding source for these companies were grants and accelerators. London-based AllBright, devoted to helping skilled female working professionals network, raised $18.3 million in July led by Cain International, bringing its total raised to $32.6 million. New York-based Fairygodboss scored $10 million in March led by GSV AcceleraTE and Signal Peak Ventures.
- While the U.S. law doesn’t require companies to disclose its pay gap, the U.K. passed a mandatory requirement in 2017 for companies with 250 or more employees to file an annual gender pay reports.
- At Intel, while 25% white men were in the top salary tier, earning more than $208,000 a year, less than 10% of black employees were in the same rank.
- There’s a rise in diversity-focused VC firms as well. Plexo Capital closed its $42.5 million fund, with investors including Alphabet, Intel Capital and Cisco Investments. Known for including women and people of color, the fund mainly invests in early stage venture capital funds and early stage companies.
- TPG Capital, the PE giant with $108 billion in assets, bought a non-controlling stake in women and minority-focused VC firm Harlem Capital Partners in June, committing an undisclosed amount to HCP Fund I, which is reported to be $25 million.
