At Zendesk, pay equity is a priority. One of the key components to achieving pay equity is transparency. Access to pay data facilitates meaningful conversations about pay with a shared mindset and common language. It means applicants and employees no longer have to try to piece together a potentially inaccurate view of compensation by looking at unofficial sources. Providing applicants and employees with a base pay range that we expect to pay helps level the negotiating playing field and enables more equitable compensation outcomes.
Only a handful of states and localities in the United States currently mandate that companies share the base pay range for a role with employees or in job descriptions. We recently made the decision to share base pay ranges for roles with all of our employees around the world. Further, all open job requisitions in the U.S. have visible base pay ranges, and we plan to expand this globally as well.
Before we shared this information, we provided our employees with robust compensation training to ensure they understood what they were seeing and how to impact it in the future. This included explaining how market benchmarking for base pay ranges works, defining key terms such as compa-ratio and providing visibility into pay processes and decision-making.
We also invest in an annual pay equity study, conducted by a third party, that assesses each of the following: total direct compensation, base salary, bonus, and long term incentives. We look across locations, by function, by country, and by job level to ensure we are thorough in our analysis. This study allows us to objectively and effectively evaluate our practices and identify and appropriately address any statistical disparities we identify. We also analyze outcomes during our promotion and reward cycles in an effort to proactively head off future disparities. We believe that this is the most complete and fair way to determine and preserve pay equity.
The gender pay gap-at any company and in the economy as a whole-is also influenced by things like the number of women versus men in leadership roles and in particular functions and locations. We continue to invest in increasing representation at leadership levels, in each of our business functions and around the world. This, along with our commitment to pay equity and transparency in our pay practices, are all part of our larger approach to global diversity, equity, and inclusion where we strive to reflect the communities we work in, drive equitable outcomes, and create an environment for people from a wide range of backgrounds to thrive.
