Autocorrect naming failures invite Brits to mind the ethnic pay gap
Discrepancies in pay along ethnic lines are the focus of a nationwide campaign, which seeks to correct remuneration biases through the prism of autocorrection failures.
Autocorrected Pay Gap builds on the nuisance of automated text prompts which often lead to misidentification and exclusion of people with diverse names over their English heritage compatriots, making the connection that if your name is wrong your pay might be as well.
Led by the non-profit organization People Like Us and created by Worth Your While, in association with JCDecaux, the out-of-home PR and influencer campaign on the streets of London and Edinburgh uses real autocorrect failures to highlight the sense of bias.
Among those voicing support for the campaign is London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who took to Twitter to back mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.
If your name is autocorrected, chances are your pay packet might be too.
Nobody should be paid less because of the colour of their skin. That’s why I’m supporting this campaign from non-profit People Like Us asking the Govt to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting.
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) April 3, 2023
Sheeraz Gulsher, co-founder of People Like Us commented: “The problem with these types of clunky, and often, offensive autocorrections is that it perpetuates the myth that non-Anglophone names are foreign and difficult to pronounce.
“And if your name gets autocorrected by default, your salary might also default to the national average of 16% less – a reality experienced by people of ethnically diverse backgrounds.”
The campaign is based on findings that workers from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other minority backgrounds were paid 16% less than their White colleagues on average. Furthermore, 67% of individuals working in professional services with a diverse background believe their white counterparts earn more, with 24% suspecting a gap of up to £5k.
Despite this, there are currently no plans in the UK parliament to enforce disclosure of ethnic pay disparities. A lack of pay transparency between men and women has been cited as holding back equality efforts, with none of the six largest advertising agencies publishing such figures.