Discussing Pay Equity: Challenging the Disparity between Gender Wages
In the world of work, women who negotiate for higher compensation risk a backlash effect, contributing to the persistent gender pay gap. However, there are strategies that women can employ to navigate these negotiations successfully and improve pay equity.
The report "Salary Negotiations: How to Negotiate Salary" from Harvard Law School provides valuable insights and techniques to manage difficult salary negotiations and ask for a raise. The report emphasizes the importance of looking beyond negotiating salary in career negotiations.
To minimize the backlash effect, women can frame their negotiations as relational and organizationally focused. This means using explanations showing concern for workplace relationships, such as referring to employer input about salary fairness, and presenting negotiation as a joint problem-solving task rather than a confrontation.
Anchoring salary requests high but with research-based reasonableness is another effective strategy. Instead of making demands, women can say, for example, "I’ve heard that people like me typically earn $80,000 to $90,000," which sets a strong but credible anchor and avoids appearing unreasonable.
A hybrid of competitive and collaborative negotiation approaches also leads to higher pay offers and better satisfaction with the process. Being firm about the outcome sought but flexible in approach balances assertiveness with cooperation.
Framing requests in terms of organizational benefits, not personal gains, also increases the likelihood of success. Research shows women have higher success rates when they emphasize how their compensation supports the organization rather than just personal advancement.
Building strong networks and finding sponsors who advocate for them is another crucial aspect. Women with sponsors are more likely to advance and can gain support that mitigates backlash fears.
Communication techniques can also help address bias and interruptions during negotiations. Preparing scripts, calling out biased behaviors directly, and using allies to amplify their contributions can reduce discrimination.
Employers can help by making salary ranges and negotiation policies transparent and monitoring negotiation outcomes to prevent unfair penalties for women who negotiate.
In the past, collective negotiation has proven effective. In the early 1990s, David Schwimmer convinced his Friends castmates to negotiate collectively for the duration of the show, leading to each actor earning a record-breaking $1 million per episode by the show's 10th and last season.
Recently, more companies are sharing salary information among employees, helping to address the gender pay gap and gain negotiating leverage. Negotiation experts suggest using relational accounts and framing salary negotiations as joint problem-solving tasks to avoid being perceived as adversarial.
Many women feel a sense of frustration when negotiating salary due to fear of being perceived as unlikable. In 2020, women earned about 84% of what men earned. However, with the right strategies, women can negotiate effectively and close the gender pay gap.
Examples of successful negotiations include Jennifer Lawrence, who successfully negotiated for her name to come first in the opening credits of Don't Look Up, an issue that was important to her. Bradley Cooper has also been teaming up with his female costars when negotiating salary to address the issue of unequal pay.
Fair-pay laws in some states prevent employers from punishing employees who share salary information with colleagues and prohibit employers from asking employees about their past salary, which tends to perpetuate the gender pay gap.
In conclusion, women can minimize the backlash effect during salary negotiations by employing strategies that frame their requests collaboratively and with concern for organizational benefit, anchoring their salary requests high but reasonably, and combining competitive and collaborative negotiation styles. By doing so, they can increase their likelihood of negotiating successfully and improving pay equity.
- The report "Salary Negotiations: How to Negotiate Salary" from Harvard Law School offers insights on managing difficult negotiations and asking for a raise, highlighting the importance of relational and organizationally focused frames to minimize the backlash effect.
- Employing the hybrid of competitive and collaborative negotiation approaches can lead to higher pay offers, better satisfaction, and increased chances of success during salary negotiations, as shown by the example of David Schwimmer convincing his Friends castmates to negotiate collectively.
- Research indicates that framing salary requests in terms of organizational benefits, rather than personal gains, can lead to higher success rates for women in salary negotiations, as demonstrated by Jennifer Lawrence's successful negotiations for her name placement in the opening credits of Don't Look Up.
- To combat the gender pay gap, fair-pay laws in some states prevent employers from punishing employees who share salary information with colleagues and prohibit employers from asking employees about their past salary.
- In addition to employing strategic negotiation tactics, women in business and careers can also gain negotiating leverage by building strong networks, finding sponsors, and addressing bias and interruptions during negotiations through communication techniques.
