Our tech-enabled approach to achieve fair pay for all

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I was born in India, the youngest of 3 children and was fortunate to have always been treated equally to my siblings. So, I was unaware about the gender bias until I completed my master’s degree and entered the professional world. 

Discovering disparity 

Early in my career, I worked for a company where I felt that there was a difference when it came to gender. I found it absurd that a female colleague returning from maternity leave received a lower performance rating and only a minimal compensation increase. This case really posed questions in my mind of why there was this differentiation? 

At the same company, there were different evaluations for women and men when hiring for the same position. In one instance, the woman applying had taken a break of two years after having a child. She was offered compensation much lower than a counterpart who was doing the same role.  

After this experience, I began to question many things as I felt that it would happen to me eventually and I would not like to be treated in an unfair manner. I tried influencing leadership but alas! I was not successful, and I decided to part ways. 

Since then, I have worked at companies that were far more balanced in terms of gender equality and fairness of pay, and I’m proud to now be working at Schneider Electric. 

Schneider Electric’s commitment to fair pay

At Schneider, we take our responsibility as a leading employer seriously. We treat our diverse global workforce in a fair and ethical way. Therefore, our Total Rewards portfolio is designed with inclusion and care for our people and their dependents.  

Ensuring equal pay for equal work is a fundamental aspect of Schneider’s compensation philosophy. It is driven by the principles of equity, consistency, and greater transparency. Our commitments are not just words: fair pay has been one of our key targets for a more sustainable future since 2021. As a company, in line with our SSI SSE ambition, we have committed to attain and maintain a pay gap below 1% by 2025 for both females and males. 

In my role of Vice President-Human Resources for International Operations, I have been contributing to this area of Pay Equity and am super proud to be part of this journey. 

A comprehensive approach to fair pay

To support our commitment to inclusion and fair pay, we have a holistic global Pay Equity Strategy covering approximately 130,000 employees in over 100 countries. This strategy covers processes, education, tools & analytics, governance, and advocacy: a meaningful mix which has enabled us to improve and maintain pay equity while preventing the creation of new pay gaps. 

Harnessing technology for progress to fair pay 

Data and technology have been our allies in this journey, allowing us to prepare HR and managers for more informed and equitable pay decisions. 

In 2023, we worked closely with the People Analytics team and launched two new tools aimed at closing the existing pay gap and preventing new ones from being created: 

• Pay Equity Dashboard: Providing monthly data updates to closely track our progress.  
• Fair Pay Simulator: Giving HR Business Partners and Talent Acquisition teams the possibility to simulate employee offers and assess their positioning from a pay equity perspective. This is used both for new hires and for internal mobility cases. 

These tools along with our holistic strategy on Pay Equity, powered by ongoing education efforts, we are happy that we achieved our 2025 pay equity ambition as of December 2023. Our current focus is on maintaining or even surpassing this achievement in the long term. However, this is a journey, so we always need to maintain the momentum.

External recognition 

The market has also noticed our strong standing on pay equity. Schneider received several pay equity recognitions from prestigious organizations. Including the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Equileap Top 100 Globally for Gender Equality, and Global Parity Alliance DEI Lighthouse for Pay Equity by the World Economic Forum (WEF). I am incredibly proud of our achievements so far, and realize they are only the start of our journey.

Continuing the journey  

There is still much work ahead of us to fully close the gap. It will take all leaders and the HR community to ensure that our efforts are impactful. As we define the next steps of our Holistic Pay Equity Strategy, it is imperative that we continue reinforcing awareness and education, expanding the capability and use of our tools and analytics.  

At Schneider, we want to be the most inclusive and caring company in the world. It is ultimately up to each of us to make a difference. As we say in Schneider Electric, “Every decision counts.”  

Check out our ongoing work in WEF’s Global Parity Alliance DEI Lighthouse report (page 31).

Interested in a career with us? Start by checking our website.