A new way to think about conflict and how we get out of it
Maria Colacurcio
At the current rate, ending the pay gap for women will take another 200 years. Maria Colacurcio thinks we shouldn’t have to wait that long.
For decades, policymakers, activists, and workers have fought to close the pay gap. But pay disparities have persisted. Today, the average woman makes 82 cents on the dollar compared to the average man. It’s even worse for Black women, who make only 62 cents on the dollar by median wage when compared to the average wage for white men.
Many companies that are serious about pay equity have traditionally hired costly outside consultants to conduct burdensome analyses that still don’t ensure lasting change. Maria Colacurcio believes this is one of the reasons why the pay gap for women in the U.S. isn’t projected to close for another 200 years. “That this is happening at such a glacial pace is an indictment of the current approach,” she says.
As the CEO of Syndio, Colacurcio is taking a different approach. Syndio’s innovative software makes the process effortless and efficient for companies trying to close internal gender-, race-, or ethnicity-based pay gaps. It analyzes salaries, identifies discriminatory pay differences, and provides strategies to fix those disparities. Companies can conduct analyses at any time, multiple times per year, and can use the software when making decisions about large-scale personnel changes.
Today, Syndio is working with over 80 companies, including Salesforce, Nordstrom, Target, and Adobe. Syndio also recently launched the Fair Pay Workplace certification effort, a transparent standard of measurement to recognize organizations dedicated to true pay equity.
“Pay equity is not a fad, it is enduring, and a movement that is gathering strength,” Colacurcio says. “Leaders must understand that this is a solvable problem — and the technology exists for them to fix it today.”
