American Airlines, Anthem commit to frequent checks on pay fairness

American Airlines Group and Anthem are among companies that have signed up to have a year-old nonprofit monitor their progress in closing gender and racial compensation gaps, seeking to add accountability to their efforts to rectify the pay disparities within their workplaces. Called Fair Pay Workplace, the Seattle-based group—backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective LLC—has signed up an initial cohort that also includes Databricks, a data-analysis software startup valued at $38b, and the University of California at Irvine. When companies enlist, Fair Pay evaluates their data for pay gaps and creates a road map to fix them. To receive certification that they’re participating, companies must commit to the plan, abide by the nonprofit’s rules and standards, and undergo regular check-ins for progress, said Heidi Durham, Fair Pay’s executive director. For example, Fair Pay asks certified companies to pledge that they won’t ask job candidates about their prior compensation or expectations for starting pay, which is “one of the biggest reasons gaps are exacerbated,” Durham said. <br/>