Payscale Redoubles Its Commitment to Pay Equity With the Acquisition of CURO

The US-based compensation data company, Payscale recently announcedOpens a new window the purchase of its Scotland rival CURO to become a market leader in compensation management and pay equity technology. The addition of CURO’s products to Payscale’s offering will strengthen the company’s “focus to build, sell, and support data, software, and services to optimize compensation,” said Scott TorreyOpens a new window , CEO of PayscaleOpens a new window .

Also read: Fair Pay Perception and Transparency Have Strong Correlation With Employee Churn: Payscale Study

What the Acquisition Means for Payscale?

The collaboration between the two compensation management companies will allow Payscale’s customers to access CURO’s pay equity and merit cycle management modules in addition to Payscale’s compensation tools and market data, as per an official statement.

“The expanded product portfolio will provide added insights into the workforce unlike anything that is currently available in the marketplace, informing compensation decisions throughout the lifecycle and allowing for organizations to promote transparency and more effectively retain top talent,” it added.

“CURO’s Pay Equity software is optimized for local, regional and multi-national pay equity audits. The integration of CURO’s solution with Payscale’s portfolio of software data and services, helps employers manage complex compensation processes with confidence as well as align employee pay with business success, analyze pay gaps and demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging across their workforce,” said Torrey in an exclusive interaction with Toolbox.

The alliance also comes at a time after Payscale merged with Payfactors, another compensation data management company, earlier this year, as per the company’s report.

The pay equity solution provider is eyeing all industries and sectors. Their aim is to prioritize pay equity, help customers identify and quantify pay equity gaps and develop remediation strategies, Torrey explained.

Also read: Compensation Strategy 2021: Salary Woes Likely to Continue, Reveals PayScale’s Survey

The State of the Gender Pay Gap

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics dataOpens a new window , in 2020, ‘women’s annual earnings were 82.3% of men’s, and the gap is even wider for many women of color. Though women only made 57 cents per dollar earned by men in 1973 when this Department of Labor PSAOpens a new window  was made, progress has stalled and we’re still far from closing the pay gap.’

In this 1970s Public Service Announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor, Batgirl informs Batman that she deserves equal pay for equal work.
Source: US Department of Labor

Tanya Jansen, chief marketing officer, beqom, another compensation management software solution, previously told Toolbox that in their company’s survey, Americans who had a preference cited equal pay as their biggest concern when asked what companies should prioritize most during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, a new survey reportOpens a new window reveals that the median salary for men is roughly 18% higher than the median salary for women following the pandemic, making pay equity crucial for companies moving forward, Payscale said.

“In fact, when men and women with the same employment characteristics do similar jobs, women earn $0.98 for every dollar earned by an equivalent man. In other words, a woman who is doing the same job as a man, with the exact same qualifications as a man is still paid two percent less for no attributable reason.”

“(…) pay equity is becoming a much bigger and more impactful topic in the boardroom for employee recruitment and retention, and in society, driving the need for a broader solution that is part of day to day compensation management, not just one time analyses,” said Torrey in an exclusive interaction with Toolbox.

“We are further proving our commitment to pay equity by vastly increasing both the number of employees we can impact, and the client base we can access. Being part of a larger organization provides an opportunity to further grow our company and allows our talent to develop their skills in new ways to meet our customers’ current and future needs,” said Gerry O’Neill, CEO, CURO.

Today, companies globally are super focused on pay and compensation equity and the latest M&A helps Payscale embed this critical dimension as an indispensable part of everyday compensation management. It would help compensation professionals worldwide to overcome pay equity issues in real time using a blend of data modeling, benchmarks, and associated tech while hiring talent and creating lasting impact for business and existing talent.

Also read: How Companies Can Support Better Pay and Development for Women

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