Tech:NYC Digest: March 3

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Thursday, March 3, 2022 

In today’s digest, Gov. Hochul moves to bring back to-go cocktails, Mayor Adams plans to combat traffic violence, and Ribbon’s Sarah Walker on cultivating inclusivity through pay transparency.

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By the numbers:  

• New positive cases statewide: 2,444

  • New positive cases, NYC: 926

• NYC Positivity Rate: 1.1 percent (-0.1 percent)

• NYC Hospitalizations: 633 (-37) 

• Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

  • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 89.0 percent

  • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 75.6 percent

In today’s latest:

• Gov. Kathy Hochul is proceeding with plans to permanently allow bars and restaurants to serve to-go booze. The rule is intended to provide restaurants and bars with a critical revenue stream, and it’s still unclear whether purchasing food along with the drink will be required. (New York Post)

• Mayor Eric Adams plans to raise hundreds of crosswalks across New York amid a surge in traffic violence during the pandemic, in part because of an epidemic of speeding and reckless driving. (New York Times)

• COVID-19 case rates continued to steeply decline over the last two weeks, with the seven-day rolling national average dropping to roughly 59,000 cases a day. (Axios)

• With over 120,000 families having left the city public school system in the past five years, Dept. of Education Chancellor David Banks unveiled his latest plan to increase student retention. (ABC New York)

In other reading:

• Spring break travel is back, and so are high prices: 'Like bears coming out of hibernation' (Los Angeles Times)

• Companies Bet You’re Ready to Test at Home for More Than COVID-19 (Wall Street Journal)

• COVID-19 pandemic vs. endemic: What's the difference, and why it matters (ABC News)

As companies battle the Great Resignation and employees reconsider their salaries, employees are finding that changing jobs remains the most effective way to receive an increase in pay. (Washington Post)

• But for tech companies struggling with retaining talent — all while trying to diversify their ranks — being transparent about how you pay your employees, and not just how much, can become a competitive advantage.

Ribbon VP of Product and Engineering Sarah Walker is working to get ahead on this issue. We spoke to Walker about the ways Ribbon achieves its inclusion targets through practices like pay transparency:

• “While it’s important to recruit candidates from historically excluded communities, these efforts do not work if you don’t have equal pay. Pay transparency means there are no salary negotiations, which tend to favor male candidates. Every employee is paid above the market rate for their position with a framework for advancement so that salaries across the company remain competitive and equitable, removing the possibility of a gender pay gap,” she said.

A recent study found implementing pay transparency could reduce the gender wage gap by as much as 40 percent. (ELLE). For companies thinking seriously about recruiting and retaining more diverse workforces, pay transparency is an effective tool:

• Walker said to attract a diverse pool of candidates, you need to point to supportive, non-discriminatory policies and benefits that stand out, such as pay equity, paid parental leave, and fertility benefits as early as the interview-stage of the hiring process. 

Walker also pointed to a misconception that there’s a pipeline problem — or that there aren’t enough qualified women in male-dominated fields. A recent McKinsey report suggests companies could do more to support and promote women in tech.  

• “Companies need to own their role in creating a lack of diversity in male-dominated fields, course-correct by implementing supportive policies and being upfront about DEI initiatives during the hiring process,” she said.

Almost all New York City employers will be legally required to disclose salary ranges in job postings starting May 15. (Bloomberg) Walker says that while the law is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t go far enough: 

• The law doesn’t affect the larger issue, she says, “since employers only have to disclose a range. It doesn’t ensure employees are getting compensated fairly across the organization, and doesn’t take promotions or the market into account.” 

By implementing pay transparency at all stages of the hiring and employment process, Ribbon and other tech companies are voluntarily going one step further to ensure all employees are compensated fairly.  

In other reading:

• Can Workers Climb the Career Ladder From Outside the Office? (New York Times)

• How to tell who you can trust at work (Fast Company)

• Networking-Starved Professionals Get ‘Back on the Gala Train’ (Wall Street Journal)

• Insider, a New York City and Singapore-based marketing SaaS platform, raised $121 million in Series D funding at a $1.22 billion valuation. Qatar Investment Authority led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital, Riverwood Capital, 212, Wamda Capital, Esas Private Equity, and Endeavor Catalyst. (VentureBeat)

• MyPlace, a New York City-based social network for home-sharing, raised $5.8 million in seed funding. Freestyle led the round and was joined by Haystack, Oceans Ventures, and OnDeck. (TechCrunch)

• March 5 – 6: In-person and virtual: NYC School of Data 2022, with Council Member Gale Brewer, Cornell Tech Urban Tech Hub director Michael Samuelian, and others. Hosted by BetaNYC with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Register here.

• March 7: Virtual: March Fundraising Workshop, with On Deck Fractional COO Eric Friedman. Hosted by Silicon Valley Bank. Register here.

• March 9: Virtual: Beyond Decentralization: Designing for Equity, Democracy, and Human Rights in Web3, with Reach Capital partner Jomayra Herrera, Metalabel founding members Austin Robey, and Polaris CTO Anjana Rajan. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

• March 21: Virtual: #newtovc: Developing Your Fund Thesis, with Union Square Ventures partner Brad Burnham and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures founder Charlie O’Donnell. Hosted by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Register here.

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