I quit my last job because of pay equity.
Here's what happened. A man who had less tenure with our small company and less professional experience than me got promoted to partner after he'd been on the job for 6 months. As the only woman at the company, I'd been dealing with small moments of sexism for about a year and a half, but this pushed me over the edge. I scheduled a meeting with all three partners (including the brand new partner who had been promoted over me). We politely and awkwardly talked it out, and I ultimately disagreed with them over what was fair. So I quit!
As scary as it was (and still is, because hello entrepreneurship!), I'm proud of my decision not to put up with unequal treatment.
Equal pay is never easy to combat, but I think it's a unique challenge at a small business. According to a 2018 Zenefits study discussed in Forbes and Business Wire, the pay gap for women at small businesses is $0.66 for every $1.00, which is 18% worse than the national average of $0.80 for every $1.00.***
So why are small businesses such major offenders and why is it so hard to bring up the topic with your employers? Employers and employees are often close personally, which makes an acutely uncomfortable discussion even worse. It's also hard to provide company-wide metrics on pay when you have a small number of employees to use for comparison, especially when you need to protect everyone's privacy. And lastly, sexism and the pay gap may not be anywhere near a small business owner's radar unless they've experienced it firsthand.
I suspect my former employers would still disagree with me over whether they felt I was being compensated fairly. It wasn't that I didn't make a good wage. I did! But someone was promoted over me under circumstances that I didn't feel were fair. The fact that they were incapable of seeing this as a pay equity issue meant that I wasn't going to be happy at that company.
There are a few things I recommend if you're an employee in a similar situation.
Don't be afraid of the negotiation. It's scary, but you've got to bite that bullet. Ask for advice from women you respect, or consider getting the help of a career coach.
Know the data. Hit 'em with stone cold facts they can't ignore. Important tidbits to have on hand are your career track's average compensation nationally, local market factors, your experience level, and any competitive edge you bring to the position.
Be prepared to walk away if you don't get what you know you deserve. It's not worth staying in a situation where you are not valued.
If you're the employer, I suggest you go into salary negotiations with the intent to be as generous as you can because generosity is a good management strategy. A few other points:
Listen. LISTEN. LISTEN. Your employee is asking you for more money because they are feeling undervalued or slighted in some way. You can go a long way toward rectifying the situation if you let your employee do the bulk of the talking and repeat their concerns back to them to make sure you are understanding how they feel. Don't try to justify your past action or explain away their emotions.
Perks are not the same thing as compensation. In a conversation about pay equity, you probably won't be able to fix the situation with more vacation time, catered lunches, a title bump, or a better office.
A highly productive employee is worth paying more than her career track and local market conditions would suggest because you're getting a huge bang for your buck.
Consider the impact if your employee leaves. If a good employee quits over pay equity, you stand to lose more than just her productivity or your time finding and training a new employee. You also risk having a damning review on job search sites like Glassdoor, which can have major impact on small businesses.
***The pay gap for Latinas and black women is even more egregious - $0.53 and $0.61 respectively, according to data available at LeanIn.org. I plan to cover the racial aspect of the pay gap in a future post once I've educated myself a bit more. As a privileged white woman, I feel unqualified to talk about race, so I've got something fun planned with a friend of mine to help us learn more. Stay tuned!
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