Equal Pay for Women? Not all... not me.

Question

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/business/equal-pay-day-trnd/index.html

JENN O'TOOL · Answer

As an HR leader who has done a significant amount of hiring over the years, I have experienced virtually no intentional effort to bring in women at lower salaries than men.  However,  what I DO see often is that female candidates with equivalent experience to male candidates often present lower salary expectations than male candidates.

Here's a situation specific example:  
Hiring range - 75,000-85,000
Male candidate salary expectations - 85,000
Female candidate salary expectations - 75,000
Equivalent skills, Hiring Manager likes both

HMs , who often focus on their budget impact of hires, may see the female candidate with  a lower salary expectation as the best choice and know they can make an offer she will accept while saving money in the budget.  She gets the job, Manager preserves some $$ in his budget, everyone's happy right?  Well for now, until you look at the compensation spread in the department where it turns out that all of the employees with the new female candidate's same skills are paid 85,000 (which the manager would have been willing to pay - need to remember that!).  So what you have now is a talented female employee paid 13% lower than her peers - not because she's not as qualified, but because she didn't ask for enough. Had she stated her expected salary as 85,000, now it's a toss up as to who gets selected, but if she is hired she comes in on par with her peers.  Coming in 13% below the norm salary is next to impossible to make up with annual merit increases.  If someone's salary is 'in the range' there will be little to no effort to get some up to the level of the others.

In my role I do whatever I can to work with Managers to understand that low-balling offers like this will create perpetual ongoing issues and I advocate for them to pay what they were willing to pay at the top end EVEN IF the candidate asked for less, especially if skills warrant that compared to current employees.  But trust me, most HR and Talent Acquisition people won't do this.

This applied to all candidates really, but women in particular:
--KNOW what you should be paid in general for your job function
--Understand the potential pay variations that exist based on industry, size of company, location, etc...
--Know how to communicate your expectations in such a way that you are clear about what salary you desire, but are also open to conversation around a the total package and may have some flexibility.

On that last point, even if you really don't want to be flexible, if you're not that far off from their cap, you want to be able to stay in the process to see if there's a mutual fit. And if you end up being the top candidate, companies will often try to get you a package that meets your requirements.  At that point - you get to decide how flexible you want to be and now have negotiating power.

Women can really be their own worst enemies when it comes to asking for what they want.   In many cases, they are more comfortable asking for more once they are hired, but that is a much more difficult task that asking for the right salary at the start.

A Hiring Manager who may not h

Becki Fordham · Answer

Even though a base-salary 'may be' predetermined, I see offers that differ based on 'experience' which can certainly be subjective.  Sometimes it is based on who the applicant knows, which is simply ridiculous.  Beyond that, your point regarding men being tougher negotiators is a big factor.

I certainly fight to keep an even base, then increases are determined purely on performance.  Unfortunately, I don't feel that all managers apply this concept across the board.

Becki Fordham · Answer

I agree with you, in general; however, as a hiring manager who can compare identical fields on gender alone the disparity due to gender is very much still a factor, unfortunately.  We are making progress, but we still have a long way to go.

Equal Pay for Women? Not all... not me.

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