Mind the gap
Why gender pay differences are still a problem in 2020
At a time when discussion about diversity and inequality in the workplace seems more common than ever, the gender pay gap shows no sign of disappearing.
In the UK, a quarter of companies and public sector bodies have a pay gap of more than 20% in favour of men, recent Office of National Statistics figures show. And the gap isn’t shrinking, either; between 2017 and 2018, it reduced by just 0.1 percentage point, from 9.7% to 9.6%.
So what has caused the gender pay gap? “I think at its core, it’s because of the way that men and women approach the workforce,” says MB Christie, an Emerging Technologies Consultant at News Corp, who was formerly COO of Tech Nation, the government-backed organisation whose mission it is to make the UK the best place to start and grow a digital business.
As MB explains, studies have found differences in the way men and women approach negotiation and establish a hierarchy.
“There’s a linguistics professor called Deborah Tannen who has done a lot of research on the way men and women talk to each other. Tannen found that boys use language to assert independence and authority, so when you watch boys in the playground, they are saying to each other; ‘my dad got a new car’, ‘ my dad got a new convertible’, ‘my dad got a new Ferrari.’
“[They’re] constantly one-upping each other. This is the way men establish a pecking order, and you can see this in adult males when building rapport among men in the workplace.
“When girls in the playground have a similar conversation, one might say ‘my mum got a new car’ and another little girl may say ‘mine did too’. You see? So the way women build rapport with other women is to be the same, and trying to find things in common. It’s not about assertiveness, it’s not about a pecking order.”
But MB believes women becoming more like men may not be the best way of solving the issue. “The whole ‘lean in’ thing [referring to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s book, ‘Lean In’], is women trying to become like men, and I just disagree with that.
“I remember a friend laughing when her male boss said ‘let’s talk salary’ and my friend said ‘oh let me put on my three-piece business suit first’ - because she felt the negotiation had to be male.”
ASSERTING A PLACE AT THE TABLE
We spoke to a leading digital influencer working for a Series-C AI scaleup, who asked not to be named in this article. She believes the way society views assertive men, as opposed to assertive women, can be an issue:
“Sometimes in a negotiation for salary, women can be perceived differently to men. We all know the examples; if you’re female and you’re very assertive in a meeting, there will be people who will view you as pushy and that’s often seen as a negative quality. Whereas if you’re a man, you may just be viewed as confident and assertive. It might not be seen as such a negative quality.”
Is this cultural gulf narrowing in the enlightened days of 2019? MB doesn’t believe so.“I think it’s so ingrained, and this translates into the workplace. If you ask a man when does he ask for a raise, he’ll say ‘every chance I get.’ Whereas you ask a woman the same question and she’ll say ‘when I deserve it’.”
Ingrained social conditioning isn’t the only factor at play though.
“I’ve found that many women at the very start of their career are fine, they are equal with men,” says MB. “It’s when they go off for maternity that really hits them hard. They might go off for a year, sometimes more, and when they come back, they’re behind. Quite often, they may have missed a round of pay raises or promotions.
“Especially in the startup world, when she comes back to work, the job is often reshaped as well”.
REMOVING BIAS FROM RECRUITMENT
So, can unconscious bias techniques help? These involve selecting candidates using documents that have information that might identify their personal characteristics – such as their name, photo, and education – redacted.
The woman we spoke to who chose not to be named says the company she works at has successfully used techniques to mitigate unconscious bias. “We’ve been doing that for a good six to nine months now, and I think it’s something that employers should definitely look into.”
MB, meanwhile, is cautiously supportive of the approach. “I like the concept, but you might end up grading someone on their CV presentation rather than on their core skills.
RETHINKING SALARY NEGOTIATION
Marina Paganucci the Head of Talent in Los Angeles for Trailer Park one of the world's leading entertainment marketing agency, explains how a new law has affected the salary gap in California.
Marina explains the employer has to list the salary on offer at the start of the process and is not allowed to ask current salary details. This, in theory, equals out the pay divide as the best candidate for the job will be paid the already confirmed salary rather than [their] salary history.”
Kate Pljaskovova is co-founder of Shewins.co, a new startup empowering women to negotiate their salary and bonuses via training and coaching from experienced business leaders.
“Let's start with a sad fact - when women don't negotiate their compensation they miss out on average £600,000 over their working life time,” Kate says. She offers some practical tips for women who are about to negotiate their new job package:
Benchmark your salary expectations with lots of market data relevant to your level of experience, industry, unique skills etc.
Fight difficult questions like “How much were you paid in your previous role?” with smart answers: “Considering my skill set, experience and what I have achieved for my employer, my previous salary was below the market value”
One of the biggest challenges when negotiating with a startup, is they simply have less money than a multinational, I ask Kate what advice she has dealing with the issue of lower salaries on offer within a startup.
Kate explains, “If the company cannot afford to pay you near your value broader market value, but you still want to work there for many other reasons, you can ask for higher yearly bonuses based on specific personal targets and agree on re-negotiating in 12 months or at the stage of an event such as VC funding.
The gender gap is still a clear problem in the workplace. But with an increased quality of debate around the issue, there is at least hope that its end could be in sight.
Here at Santa Monica Talent, we’re passionate about unbiased hiring and diverse recruiting. We work hard to bring people from a wide variety of backgrounds to the companies we work with, as well as to our own team.