CHAPTER 5

Myth: Women Can Expect to Be Compensated Fairly and Rewarded for Their Contributions in the Workplace

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

An expectation, according to the dictionary, is a strong belief, a hope, a wish, or an assumption. Most of us know the old saying about what happens when you assume—you make an ass out of you and me. Women can never expect to be compensated or rewarded fairly. There is a major difference between an expectation and an agreement. The failure to recognize the difference often leads to communication mishaps. Compensation and rewards for a job well done come only by communicating and negotiating clear agreements. Sometimes those agreements must be made with yourself.

Imagine a well-dressed, accomplished business person who has just completed the final job interview for a position that represents a significant career upward move. The phone rings and on the other end is a joyful recruiter with a job offer. This is a huge accomplishment and relief for the applicant. The interview process has included multiple steps and taken several months of preparation.

As you progress in a career, the interview process for a senior-level specialist position or leadership role can be grueling and time-consuming. Organizations are more committed than ever to getting the selection process right. They use a variety of prescreening techniques, one-on-one, group panel interviews, business assimilations, presentations, and assessments before extending an offer. When the offer comes, it’s the end of the selection process, but just the beginning of the negotiation process.

Even readers of this book who are interested in the advancement of women may have imagined a man as the business person taking the call and receiving the offer at the beginning of this chapter. The New Times confirmed recently that multiple research studies have shown that most of us when we are asked to picture an effective leader, both men and women, usually picture a man. Getting upward career potential noticed in the workplace is more difficult for women. Taking the initiative required for pursuing a career opportunity, speaking up, and demonstrating other outwardly assertive behaviors in the workplace can come with a negative backlash for women.

Certainly intentional discrimination and unconscious gender bias play a role in the pay disparity between men and women. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the United States has hundreds of complaints each year. On the other side of the globe, a research study in Australia found that women ask for raises just as often as men, but they are less likely to receive them. The overall disparity in compensation and rewards in the workplace between men and women is much more complicated than discrimination and gender bias. The researchers in Australia also found that women are more likely than men to signal their willingness to work for less.

Many women leave corporate positions and take the responsibility for owning a business with the hopes of having direct control over their own pay and rewards. Even when a woman leads her own company, researchers have found that women entrepreneurs are less likely to receive funding than male counterparts. Venture capitalists making investment decisions are more likely to ask women business owners about the potential losses associated with their businesses. Men are asked about the potential for financial gain associated with the investment in a firm.

A study in the United Kingdom found that even women entrepreneurs pay themselves approximately 29 percent less than their male entrepreneur counterparts. The women CEOs who participated in the study were responsible for setting their own pay levels and reported high career satisfaction. The study suggests that women may suffer from a paradox of being satisfied and contented at work. When women have the power to pay themselves at a level equal to their male counterparts or more, we don’t always do it ourselves.

Women must not confuse job satisfaction and being content with a paycheck to the true value they bring to a position. The unique skills, talent, and position itself has a value on the job market regardless of a woman’s willingness to perform the job for less. Most ambitious women are motivated by the ability to shape company culture. This was confirmed in a study by leadership research firm Korn Ferry. A sense of purpose and the desire to make a positive impact on employees, the company, or the community is a stronger driver than climbing the career ladder for increased power or pay. It’s important for women to remember they deserve to be paid fairly for what they deliver.

Researching the compensation levels associated with a position and practicing good negotiation skills are essential. It’s also important to have a woman as a role model. Research across international cultures confirms that women with working mothers are actually more likely to have jobs at a higher salary level than those with stay-at-home moms. Salle Yoo, an attorney for Uber, is a good example of powerful negotiation tactics. She negotiated a severance package on her way out of the company worth tens of millions of dollars. She included a clause stating that if Uber negotiated a better package with anyone else that they would match the difference. The package she finally settled upon, while a lofty sum, was less than two-thirds of her initial request.

Women can master the art of the “ask” and negotiate with practice. It also takes career opportunity, visible performance, and access to the senior-level decision makers in a large corporate environment. A study by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org found that women are less likely to receive challenging assignments that often lead to pay raises. They also report that women who do ask for raises and negotiate are met with bias labeling their personalities as negative, pushy, or too aggressive.

While women are now more likely than men to graduate from college, they are also more likely to choose college majors that segregate them into lower paying careers. The research conducted by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce shows as few as 8 percent women majoring in high paying fields such as mechanical engineering. There is more encouragement for women to choose career paths previously dominated by men today and the number appears to be increasing. There are still many lower paying careers such as nursing, teaching, and child caregivers dominated by women.

Pew Research Center confirms that women are also more likely than men to say they have taken a break from a career to care for family. Career interruptions related to becoming a parent through birth or adoption or caring for a family member have a long-term impact on women’s earnings. Pew reported that the women who had taken time off for family and medical leave were also twice as likely as men to say the leave had a negative impact on their careers.

The disparity in pay between women and men is a complex issue with all of these and other factors at play. Women must be encouraged to pursue high paying career roles, become skilled at negotiations based on the value of the position, and empowered to correct these gender disparities over time. Women also must take ownership for knowing the value of our work, negotiating even when we could be quite happy with less, and examining the choices we make.

Success Strategies

There are three success strategies for overcoming the complexity of issues that may interfere with your pay: know the value of your work, aim high when you negotiate, and examine the choices you make.

Know the Value of Your Work

Don’t confuse satisfaction with your pay and interest in performing your work with the value of your talent on the job market. Do the research. There are a multitude of resources available with information about job titles, compensation, and benefits that can be expected both in corporate and entrepreneurial positions. Pay for the same type of professional position can also vary by industry or size of the company. It’s important to gather information from industry and trade publications about the expectations based on the size and complexity of the business. Professional associations for women such as the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and hundreds of local Women’s Business Centers supported by the Small Business Administration in the United States can offer guidance, training, and information about salary. Forbes magazine publishes a list of the best websites for women.

When you have researched the value of your position, you will be in a position to negotiate with confidence. You deserve to be paid fairly compared to others in your role, industry, and profession. It’s a mistake to simply negotiate for an increase from your current pay. While you might be very well satisfied with a 10 or 15 percent increase, if you find there is a significant gap in your current pay and how the position is valued in the market, it’s time to ask for more. The best employers also do this type of research annually, comparing their salary ranges with those of other companies in order to retain the best talent. For many years job applications included a place to indicate your compensation level. When extending an offer for a new position, this information was misused as a guide to the salary level for your position. Many states and countries are taking legal action to protect the confidentiality of this private information in the effort to eliminate the gender wage gap. Information about your payment history is not relevant to the value of the job. You are in a position to gather information and negotiate based on the data available and your ability to perform the work.

Aim High When You Negotiate

The Beatles said “I don’t care too much for money. Money can’t buy me love.” It’s important to love what you do, but love is only one element leading to career satisfaction. Loving what you do in a company that has an atmosphere of unethical behavior not aligned with your values just won’t work. Love can also fade. You must have the opportunity to learn, the ability to contribute at a higher level, and have your skills used at their highest potential or work can be a miserable existence. Pay is not typically a satisfier. You may be in love with your job today and find out tomorrow that the new person in your department who contributes two times less than you do earns more money. Suddenly your love fades. Money is typically a dissatisfier more often than not.

Negotiate for more than you will be happy with. Keep a poker face and never signal your willingness to work for less. Gaining more money, even when you would personally be satisfied with less, gives you more to share with others, whether it is family or community. Women with the financial means can make a powerful difference in the world. Ask to see the contribution of a local Junior League if you want ideas about how to contribute. These are women dedicated to supporting local communities with their volunteerism and their money. Powerful negotiators do the research on the market value of the job. Then, they ask for much, much more—thousands of dollars more—than the target number they are willing to accept.

Never take on more job responsibilities without attempting to negotiate. The worst thing that can happen is that you receive the answer “No.” Your pay stays the same and you’ve practiced your skills. Well-meaning busy managers often select an interim person while a position is vacant. Time flies and that interim time frame can last up to a year or more while they are searching for the right person. If it isn’t you, having proven your ability to multitask, you are the only person who can make sure you get the compensation your efforts are worth.

There are many other times when organizations downsize. While you may be eager to pick up some new work that offers a real learning opportunity, evaluate the additional work you accept. Think about it’s worth. Look at it in two ways—one in terms of what it does for you and your experience or to build your resume. Two, ask yourself if there is a clear business case for a raise considering the amount of extra work on your plate. Otherwise, your plate could runneth over, and there is no guarantee of anyone ever taking notice. Women sometimes find themselves in the position of taking on the work that no one else wants to do. The glass cliff phenomenon is a real problem for women who advance. Once they demonstrate the skills to obtain a position, many women are handed over a project or responsibilities that have a high probability of failure. Men often have access to more information in organizations and are better positioned to avoid a high-risk assignment.

Examine Your Own Choices

Career satisfaction is about finding a position that you have the talent to perform well in a place where you can enjoy what you do and have more than the pay you need to thrive and enjoy life outside of work. When you choose to select a major in school or accept the next offer for a new position, consider all those elements. It’s not enough to take a new position because you have the talent to get the job done. If it’s in a miserable environment or the pay isn’t at the right level, you won’t be happy in it long term. Make certain to choose positions that are the right fit for you. Ask questions about alignment in all areas—the work you will do, the people you will work with, the work environment, and the pay.

One woman who enjoyed studying psychology in school learned early on in her sophomore year by talking with other recent graduates that the pay levels were low and job opportunities were rare upon graduation. She thought about the future. She considered how many years she wanted to stay in school and the level of income she wanted to achieve upon graduation. She made a strategic decision to finish her degree, then to change majors and obtain a business degree in graduate school. By thinking strategically about her choices, she was able to create a plan that allowed her to use her knowledge of people in a business position that would bring the higher level of income she desired.

According to Forbes magazine, the young women of today could become the most financially independent women in history. We are living in a different world today compared to women in the past. Women were unable to obtain a credit card without permission from a husband in the mid 1970s. We have the freedom today to carefully consider the value of our work, negotiate for a fair salary and raises, and choose career paths that will be financially lucrative.

Assess Yourself and Plan for Development

This purpose of the self-assessment is to help you enhance your effectiveness. This tool can help you chart your progress over time. It can also help you discover your strengths and development areas. Use the information to guide discussions with your manager and others in your network who can support your career development. You may also use the questions to solicit feedback from others.

Assess Yourself

Instructions: Read each question item and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5.

• 1 = I need serious improvement in this area.
• 2 = I need some improvement in this area.
• 3 = I’m talented and skilled in this area.
• 4 = A strength for me.
• 5 = A major strength. I consider myself a role model for other women.

Plan for Development

Reflect on your assessment score and plan for your future. If your overall average rating is a 4 or 5, personal presence and communication style is a strength for you. If your average rating is a 1, 2, or 3, presence and communication style could become a career derailer. On the question items where you rated yourself a 4 or 5, consider new ways to leverage your strengths. If you rated yourself a 1, 2, or 3, consider the implications for your career. These areas could get in the way of your future success. Use the ideas for leveraging strengths and developing opportunity areas to create a plan for career development.

Leverage strengths

• Reflect on your past success in negotiating compensation and rewards. Identify specific behaviors that worked well for you and plan to use them in the future.
• Think about the future of your career and your desired compensation levels. Create a clear plan for an enjoyable retirement that includes the monetary rewards you will receive.
• Look for an opportunity to share what you have learned about negotiating compensation and rewards with other women. It could be by developing a one-on-one mentoring relationship with another woman or by presenting to a group of women at a meeting.
• Continue to practice powerful negotiations, ask for more than you need and create a plan for sharing your wealth with others.
• Interview other successful women. Ask about how they achieved their level of success and their approach to salary negotiation.

Develop opportunities

• Reflect on your career choices and create a set of personal standards that you will not deviate from. Identify the minimum requirements that a job opportunity must meet in several areas including the work you will perform, the type of people you will work with, the work environment, and pay levels.
• Avoid signaling your willingness to work for less money or take on additional responsibilities without a discussion of pay and rewards, even for an interim or short-term assignment.
• Assess any additional responsibilities you are asked to perform carefully. Consider skills you may learn, the political environment in the situation, the hours you will work, the ability to meet your goals, and the risk of failure.
• Before accepting a new project or responsibility, consider your ability to perform the task well and the risk of saying “no.” If the risk of saying “no” to the assignment is low, consider renegotiating your priorities or saying no to the request.
• Find a role model who uses powerful negotiation skills. Watch for the specific behaviors and language that work well. Incorporate those behaviors into your actions.

Additional Resources

Babcock, L., and S. Laschever. 2009. Ask for It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want. New York, NY: Bantam.

Babcock, L. 2007. Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation and Positive Strategies for Change. New York, NY: Bantam Dell.

Fisher, R., W. Ury, and B. Patton. 2011. “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving.” In Know Your Worth, Get Your Worth: Salary Negotiation for Women, ed. J. Olivia. New York, NY: Penguin Books.