Before you decide to post, share and give a thumbs up to honor Equal Pay Day, ask yourself this: What are you personally doing to close the gender pay gap in your organization? Each year, Equal Pay Day is a moment to raise awareness and combat pay inequities. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, the date signifies “how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.”
In the U.S., women earn approximately 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. This gap widens for women of color, including Black, Latina and Indigenous women who have to work even further into the year before reaching pay parity. And while education on this day is important, we must to move to action in our workplaces.
If you are leading teams, it’s not the job of HR to make sure the women on your team are being paid fairly and equitably. It’s not the company’s job. As a leader, this is your job. If the women on your team aren’t being valued for their expertise and experience, fix it. If you want to honor Equal Pay Day, start with these three actions.
Related: Why Paying Women An Equal Wage Helps — Not Hurts — Your Business
1. Partner with HR and legal to communicate pay equity measures
In my book, Reimagine Inclusion: Debunking 13 Myths to Transform Your Workplace, I discuss the importance of organizations undergoing a pay equity analysis. If you haven’t, now is the time to influence and stress the importance of it as a leader. Once complete, communicate to your organization the overall findings. This shows you are focused on ensuring all employees are being valued fairly for their contributions. Don’t wait for a lawsuit to be the reason you address pay with your organization.
As a leader, be clear on when raises happen and how they are determined. Are they based on market fluctuations? Are they based on performance? Do you do off-cycle adjustments, and how are those handled to minimize bias? If you are adjusting an employee’s pay, let them know the rationale behind it. Especially if you discovered systemic bias and are taking corrective action.
If individuals do have questions about their compensation, they shouldn’t be limited to only asking their bosses. Ensure that human resources business partners and the compensation team are open to being approached regarding questions on compensation. They should be armed with the data to understand all the factors that reflect the individual’s compensation within the organization.
2. Challenge leaders on who they reward
I have heard leaders make the following statements when it comes to evaluating pay:
Her spouse makes more than enough money.
She is the sole breadwinner in her family.
Did you see the BMW she drives to work? She doesn’t need the raise.
Her partner lost her job, so she needs this job.
Some leaders will rely on these biases and more to justify why they decide to pay a woman less — and pay a man on the team more.
We know our biases surface under stress and when we multitask. During moments of economic downturns and organizations missing targets, leaders can be under enormous pressure to make decisions on furloughs, pay cuts and layoffs. We need to interrupt our biases and ask: If this were a man, would we use these same justifications and rationale to pay him less?
And in those moments when we are working hard to retain talent, we may turn to spot bonuses or retention bonuses or stock grants to get talent to stay. It can help retain top performers and help them feel valued and seen. HR business partners must oversee this with leaders to interrupt bias and ensure men don’t receive these bonuses disproportionately more than women.
Related: 5 Ways Women Can Fight the Gender Pay Gap (Besides Asking for More Money)
3. Ensure mothers aren’t penalized
According to the National Women’s Law Center, mothers working full-time, year-round, are paid 71 cents for every dollar paid to working fathers. This gap means $1,667 a month, or $20,000 per year, in lost income for mothers working outside the home. This gap in pay is known as the motherhood penalty and is worse for moms of color.
Fathers, on the other hand, benefit from the fatherhood premium or fatherhood bonus. Men often receive a salary increase when they become fathers, where average earnings can increase by more than 6%. Another study, reaffirming the fatherhood premium, showed that fathers make roughly 20% more than men with no children.
“When men have children, they are seen as responsible and stable — ‘He has a family to support,'” said Sallie Krawcheck, co-founder and CEO of Ellevest, a former Wall Street executive and mother of two. There may be a number of factors at play as to why mothers are paid less than fathers, including leaving the workforce for an extended period and working a reduced schedule. And some leaders may continue to discriminate against mothers, assuming they aren’t as committed, distracted by other priorities and aren’t interested or invested in growing their career long-term.
Pay equity analysis should pay special attention to the moments when women began to expand their families. Ensure that new mothers are not penalized financially for taking parental leave. Continue to watch for compensation discrepancies as both women and men expand their families. Monitor promotion as well as attrition rates; mothers should be given access to the same opportunities for advancement as fathers.
So on this Equal Pay Day, we need leaders in charge of writing paychecks to take action in their workplaces. Start ensuring all of your employees are being valued for the impact they are having in the workplace. It’s time to ensure women are paid fairly and equitably for what they have earned and deserve.
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