March 23, 2016

Dow Jones Responds

"Improvements Will Then Follow"

Today, in an email to all staff, Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal Publisher William Lewis responded to a March 8th article posted by IAPE Local 1096 on its website that called attention to pay inequities across Union-represented positions at Dow Jones & Company.

"Any pay disparity relating to an employee's race or gender is troubling and inconsistent with the standards I strive to maintain at Dow Jones," Mr. Lewis said in his statement. "We must, as a matter of urgency, address these issues head on.

"I have asked the Executive Leadership Team to do a thorough review of our current hiring, development and compensation programs to ensure diversity and equality are prioritised. This will include a deep analysis of recruitment and remuneration practices across all segments, roles and regions of our organization."

Mr. Lewis ended his note to staff with these four words:

"Improvements will then follow."

We applaud Mr. Lewis for responding to our analysis, not with an attempt to explain away pay gaps with some false rationale, but rather with acknowledgement of a real problem in need of correction. In our original story, we noted that a similar review of pay data back in 1991 produced alarmingly similar results.

Twenty-five years is far too long for any company — let alone one with the stature of Dow Jones — to ignore pay inequities and a lack of diversity in the workplace.

We are also pleased that Mr. Lewis has pledged transparency during this forthcoming period of compensation and hiring policy review. We'll all be watching.