Impact of Gender Pay Gap on Employee Productivity at Amazon

RESERACH
PROJECT

Abstract
This research is based on providing an understanding of equality and diversity
within a workplace. The research explains how gender pay gap can influence overall
productivity of employees within an organization. It also describes what approaches can
be used by an organization in order to overcome issue of gender pay gap. Quantitative
research methodology has been employed in the research and a questionnaire was
used to collect data from respondents. It was found that the findings of the literature
review and data analysis were almost the same with no major differences.

Contents
Abstract.....................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................4
Research Aim........................................................................................................................................4
Research Objectives............................................................................................................................4
Research Questions.............................................................................................................................5
Background of Company.....................................................................................................................5
Significance of study.............................................................................................................................5
Literature Review....................................................................................................................................6
Concept of equality and diversity in Amazon....................................................................................6
Influence of gender pay gap on employee productivity in the Amazon.........................................7
Approaches that Amazon should implement to overcome gender pay gap.................................8
Research Methodology.......................................................................................................................10
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................10
Research Philosophy.........................................................................................................................10
Research Approach............................................................................................................................11
Research Strategy..............................................................................................................................11
Research Choices..............................................................................................................................11
Techniques and Procedures of Data Collection.............................................................................11
Sampling Method................................................................................................................................15
Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................................16
Access Negotiations...........................................................................................................................16
Research Limitations..........................................................................................................................16
Ethical Issues......................................................................................................................................17
Gantt Chart..........................................................................................................................................18
Findings and Analysis.........................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................25
Recommendations..............................................................................................................................25
Reflection.............................................................................................................................................26
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................27
Appendix.................................................................................................................................................30

INTRODUCTION
Equality is an important concept not only in small but large businesses as well.
The main aim of the concept is to make sure that everyone within the organization gets
access to equal opportunities with no discrimination. On the other hand, Diversity is a
concept which means that people from different backgrounds, cultures, religions, skills,
experiences etc. work within the company (Özbilgin and Slutskaya, 2017). Both equality
as well as diversity are important because they not only impact the employees but the
whole organization. Also, it has been seen that organizations that discriminate among
workers have a staff who productivity is low. By creating a workforce that is diverse and
provided with equal opportunities, a company can gain access to different segments of
the market as well as expand overall business (Altman, 2018).
The main aim of this practice is to ensure that all the employees in the company
get a fair and equal chance to share their ideas and thoughts. This also contributes to
their overall performance as well as levels of productivity. Today, many organizations
promote diversity in their workplace. This is mainly done in order to enhance overall
productivity and performance of not only employees, but organization as well.
Organization chosen for this research is Amazon, which is an American multinational
technology company. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994. The company has
operations across various sectors including ecommerce, digital streaming, cloud
computing etc. The company was reported to have a gender pay gap which was
affecting the performance as well as productivity of the employees. The research
examines the impact of managing cultural diversity on the company’s overall
performance.
Research Aim
“To analyze the impact of gender pay gap upon the productivity of employees at
Amazon.”
Research Objectives
 To understand the concept of equality and diversity in Amazon.

 To analyze the influence of gender pay gap on employee productivity in the
Amazon.
 To identify approaches that Amazon should implement to overcome the problem
of gender pay gap.
Research Questions
 What is the concept of equality and diversity in Amazon?
 How does gender pay gap influence the productivity of employees within
Amazon?
 What approaches should Amazon implement in order to overcome the problem
of gender pay gap?
Background of Company
Amazon is an American multinational technology company that primarily focuses
on cloud computing, e-commerce and other technology related services. The company
was founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994 and is one of the most widely recognized e-
commerce companies across the world. A wide range of products ranging from gadgets
to household products are offered by the company through its physical stores as well as
online website (Andrews and Parsons, 2018). Apart from this, the company also allows
various sellers to sell their products online. Amazon aims to serve its customers through
both offline stores as well as online website and become the most customer-centric
company in the world. Not only this, the company also manufactures and sells
electronic devices to the customers. The respective company is headquartered in
Seattle, Washington and the largest online retail company in the world. Amazon is also
a market leader in providing digital personal assistant devices with gadgets like Alexa
and Echo.
Significance of study
This research is important because it explains the concept of equality and
diversity along with its importance within a workplace (Ahrens, 2018). The study will
demonstrate why is it important to promote equality and diversity within the workplace
and how can it help in overcoming various challenges like gender pay gap. Today,
almost all organizations promote equality and diversity in their workplaces because it

assists in enhancing overall levels of performance as well as productivity of not only the
employees, but organization on the whole.

Literature Review
Concept of equality and diversity in Amazon
Equality and Diversity has become an important concept today in organizations
as it contributes to the overall enhancement of organizational performance. Equality
ensures that all employees working in a particular organization are provided fair and
equal opportunities without any kind of discrimination (Sharma, 2016). On the other
hand, Diversity is all about taking into account that different employees belong to
distinct backgrounds, religions, cultures and values. Equality is a concept that is
relevant to businesses regardless of the number of employees working for the
company. Equality is basically related to ensuring that everyone in the organization gets
and equal opportunity. Organizations that follow the practice of Equality and Diversity
provide their employees with various opportunities in order to create a culture without
any kind of discrimination. Equality and Diversity within the workplace mean to respect
the employees who work for the company for their individual differences. If an
organization hires people from different backgrounds enhances the overall creativity
within the organization allowing the employees to share their ideas. A diverse workforce
also helps the organization in gaining a competitive edge against others in the market
(Why is diversity in the workplace important?, 2020). One of the reasons behind this is
that employees belonging to different backgrounds are more likely to understand the
needs and expectations of different customers in an effective and detailed manner.
Being a multinational company, Amazon has a diverse workplace wherein
employees from different backgrounds and culture work for it. This means that there are
no language barriers as such because the staff has taken the concept of foreign
language to an advanced level. Due to this, the company has been able to relate to a
much larger audience around the world (Baker and et. al., 2016). If an organization
recruits candidates who belong to different nations, the managers get an access to a
large talent pool of candidates. Diverse employees who work from remote areas can
also be beneficial for the company as they can lead it to open offices in new locations.
This helps the organization to expand its business operations in countries or markets
that were previously untapped by it. Amazon is a company the promotes equality and