NY Times: Pay Discrimination at Coinbase
„The pay disparity at Coinbase appears to be much larger than in the tech industry as a whole,“ according to the New York Times.
San Francisco-based crypto exchange Coinbase may have had problems paying its employees fairly based on gender and race.
According to a report by New York Times journalist Nathaniel Popper, Coinbase pays black employees about 7 percent less than Bitcoin Billionaire other people in similar positions, according to salary data from 2018. For the company as a whole, that resulted in an average difference of $11,500. When the company’s stock options are included, the gap between white and black employee pay at Coinbase was just under 11 per cent.
The report also claims there is a pay gap by gender
For example, first-level male managers at Coinbase earned 20 per cent more than their female counterparts. On average, women at the crypto firm made 8 per cent, or $13,000, less than their male counterparts in 2018.
„The pay disparity at Coinbase appears to be much larger than in the tech industry as a whole and at the few other tech companies that have had to release data,“ Popper wrote
Human resources director L.J. Brock was quick to respond to the allegations. In an internal company email posted on the Coinbase blog today, the company claims it has made „significant efforts since 2018 to ensure that pay for performance at Coinbase is transparent and fair.“ It said „all eligible employees“ received a pay increase of at least 3 per cent at the start of 2019 and that employee pay targets were made transparent later in the year. The email also said the crypto firm’s headcount had increased from 830 in 2018 to more than 1,000 in 2020.
„Coinbase is committed to clearly eliminating bias in all of our internal processes,“ the company blog said. „We also believe it is best practice to regularly review our work. Pay equity is important at every stage of maturation and we believe we have implemented the right framework to ensure we achieve equitable outcomes.“
The Exchange has been in the spotlight before for issues around racism. In October, CEO Brian Armstrong said the company would adopt a „politics-free culture“ and offered exit packages to any employee who disagreed with the move. Armstrong said 60 employees had planned to leave in response to the announcement. That represented about 5 percent of Coinbase’s workforce at the time.