How One Company Is Bettering the Human Experience, Addressing the Gender Pay Gap, and Much More

Qualtrics is the category creator for Experience Management, which means that prior to Qualtrics coming into existence and working to solve the world’s broken experiences, there weren’t companies around that were dedicated to solving that problem. Beyond us being the leader in the category, what further differentiates us is the extent to which we make use of our own product line to design and improve our own experiences. One of our innovative systems that does just that is the Qualtrics XM Platform™.

The Qualtrics XM Platform is a system of action that helps businesses:

•  Attract customers who stay longer and buy more.

• Engage and empower employees to do the best work of their lives.

• Develop breakthrough products people love, and to build a brand people can’t imagine living without.

In short, we close experience gaps to better the human experience. We put every part of the XM Operating System to work to make sure that the root of experience is being measured, designed, and improved at every possible opportunity.

The Qualtrics team operates on a strict diet of TACOS — Transparent, All In, Customer Obsessed, One Team, and Scrappy. These values are not only our values, but the guiding principles around which we craft and grow our culture. These values have been a top incentive for people in the interview process when deciding if Qualtrics is the place for them. It’s easy to see that Qualtrics employees love their jobs and truly embody these TACOS values. 

Women at Qualtrics. 

While there are many aspects of Qualtrics that we’re massively proud of — including 5 For The Fight, our charitable organization dedicated to eradicating cancer — in this article, we want to focus on the aspects of Qualtrics that benefit women in particular. We reached out to our dedicated Women’s Leadership Development group (WLD) for their input; this group was created to focus specifically on the growth and development of women within our organization. 

“WLD was the first Employee Resource Group created at Qualtrics. It helps women with mentorship, sponsorship, coaching, career development, networking, and taking our careers to the next level.” — Jessica Nava, Business Development Manager

An overwhelming number of WLD members commented that Qualtrics’ approach toward motherhood, maternity leave, and the transition back to work were very beneficial to them. While not all women at Qualtrics are mothers, motherhood has historically been a barrier for women who are trying to maintain and advance their careers.

Qualtrics offers six weeks parental leave with an additional six weeks of short-term disability at full pay after the first year at Qualtrics. Prior to that, parental leave is paid at 60%. We don’t just pay for maternity leave, but also for the non-birthing parent, to ensure that a new child isn’t the sole responsibility of a birthing parent and so parents in adoption or surrogate situations have time to spend with their child.

In addition to leave, there is a four week part-time period to transition back into the workplace. Qualtrics also offers mother’s rooms in the office and a daycare option near to the office in our Provo location. Many women also commented on the fact that they were hired when they were pregnant, which made them feel confident that their pregnancy would not negatively impact their work and that they’d have support from their managers.

Other employee benefits include:

• The Experience Bonus — an annual bonus for full-time employees that can be used for vacation, home improvements, personal development, etc.

• The Wellness Bonus — introduced in 2022, this bonus allows our team to proactively invest in their total wellness. The bonus has a wide range of coverage, ensuring that people can pursue the kind of wellness they need most. Some examples include gym memberships, massages, and food subscription services. 

The gender pay gap.

 Beyond benefits, there are many things that Qualtrics does that positively impact women — like our mandatory unconscious bias training — but possibly the most important is our commitment to equal pay. The gender pay gap in the tech industry is real. Qualtrics saw that and decided to examine and measure our gap in order to close it. This sets us apart and shows that Qualtrics is willing to take action and is committed to making the necessary changes to ensure equality across the board.  

“The rigor of our promotion and compensation process has ensured and verified, for several years running, that there is no pay gap between men and women at Qualtrics. Many companies are too afraid of what they’ll find to even start measuring. We’re measuring, learning, and we’ve closed the gap.” — Jamie Morningstar, Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Beyond this, Qualtrics is heavily invested in internal mobility. We work with our leaders to help them have deep conversations with their team members about the “big goal” they are working toward and help them build their careers around that. When we consider career pathing, we look at our performance process and how it focuses on the impact of a person’s work in the company, as well as how that impact was achieved. When that information is evaluated for performance and/or for promotion, it allows us to guide development conversations.

Career development. 

We measure against expected promotion rates by gender and ethnicity to ensure our performance process is checking itself against biases, and we have a strong focus on wanting to see our team develop. 

“Qualtrics trains managers on having deeper career conversations with their people to help them tap into what they even want from their career and why. Career ladders are well-defined and used regularly in performance conversations; individuals typically have open conversations with their managers about where they are in their career progression and what kind of work or attributes they need to demonstrate to get promoted. They work together to establish quarterly goals that align with those career goals. Individuals are encouraged to change teams or even roles if they want to find a better fit for their interests, and there are established processes for internal transfers. There's a lot of opportunity for growth.” — Catherine Williams, Global Head of IQ

We have a strong prevalence of women leaders at Qualtrics, and we strive to ensure diversity in our representation. The tech industry has a bad reputation when it comes to hiring, promoting and maintaining women. Qualtrics recognized this and is continually working to correct it, creating a workplace where women feel valued and know they can succeed. At Qualtrics, there is no limit to what you can achieve — if you can envision it you can build it.

“Qualtrics as a company truly embodies our TACOS values, practices them daily, and supports all to live the values. This creates an environment where teams feel welcome, heard, and empowered.” — Ali Henriques, Senior Manager, Research Experts