How to Get Paid What You Deserve (Part 2)

Gender inequality in the workplace is not only a social issue; it’s an economic one.

A recent McKinsey Global Institute report found that closing the gender pay gap and improving equity for women in the workplace could add $12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025.

That’s important because women make up more than half of the world’s working-age population and make the majority of financial decisions in their households. 

Women have also been negatively impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic, and women of color, who are more likely to be laid off or furloughed during the crisis, have been hit especially hard.

Burnout is on the rise, as working mothers take on virtual schoolwork and the feeling of always being “on” at work and at home.

As a result, the 2020 Women in the Workplace Report found that 1 in 4 women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce. 

This has major implications on companies who are struggling to hire qualified candidates, make values-driven decisions around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and navigate uncertainty alongside their clients and customers.

And despite the gains we’ve made globally to close the gender pay gap, a new study suggests that due to the pandemic, women’s wages might not recover until 2040.

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote that although women as individuals can do their part to close the gender pay gap, the onus is on companies to prioritize gender equity and dismantle the systems and barriers keeping women from earning what we deserve.

In Part 2, I’ll share my thoughts on how companies can keep women who want to work at work by addressing the gender pay gap head-on. 

Here’s how companies can help you get paid what you deserve: 

1. Start with Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is the foundation for any change we want to make in our lives. Just as I teach my community to start with examining their inner world and different areas of their lives, companies can take that same approach to addressing pay inequity.

There’s an old and overused saying in business, “you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” but I think it’s so appropriate here.

Many companies don’t realize they have an issue with gender equity because they don’t collect the data. And even if they have the data, it’s not transparently available to employees.

If you don’t know where you’re starting, how will you know where you want to go? And if you don’t know where you want to go, how will you know when you get there, or if you’re totally off track?

Self-awareness also starts with knowing who you are as a leader; the core values that drive you and your organization, the purpose and mission statements that provide a vision for the future.

If you don’t have core values, or if your values need a refresh, check out this article that explains how to identify your core values and how core values help you live your purpose.

If you already have a set of core values that feel aligned to where you want to go, start there. How can you use these values to take a deeper look at your organization? How will you use your values to guide decision-making? How will you use your values to create a more equitable environment for your employees?

Then, with your values as a compass, begin to examine your organization. Look at your current policies to determine whether they align to your core values or organizational priorities. Do your policies ensure equity across race, gender, ability, etc.? Do any outdated policies need to be revised? Are you missing any policies that could enable equitable practices?

After you review your policies and make adjustments as needed, it’s time to look at your data. What data do you collect around pay equity? What data do you collect to inform you of the number of women+ in leadership roles? Can you organize your data to look specifically at women of color? What disparities do you notice? What data are you missing? What information would be helpful for you to make better decisions around pay equity?

Then, once you have a clearer picture of your current state, in terms of policies and data, it’s important to examine the employee experience. As a leader, you can’t necessarily rely on your own perception of your organization. You need to hear multiple perspectives, opinions and experiences, right from the source.

To glean this valuable information, you could review annual employee experience survey data from the past few years. This is a good place to start if you have it. If you don’t, it’s time to start collecting employee experience data!

To take this review to another level, you could host employee focus groups centered on the topic of gender equity. Prepare a set of questions, then provide multiple opportunities for your employees to contribute their opinions, experiences, stories and ideas. Review this information for themes and patterns, then research best practices to help you address gaps and barriers.

But don’t stop there! Now that you have this powerful information at your fingertips and are willing to put changes in place to create a more equitable environment, you need to share this information with your employees.

Not sharing pay equity data keeps the power within the leadership team instead of with the women making decisions about their careers.

Knowledge is power, and without the transparency of pay data, women are at a disadvantage. Not sharing this data keeps the power within the leadership team instead of with the women making decisions about their careers. Put the power back into women’s hands. Be transparent about where you stand as a company and where you want to go. Allow women to make their own decisions, based on data, about whether they want to stay at your company or in the workforce in general.

This foundational work won’t always be comfortable. You may uncover things you don’t want to look at. It’s the same for internal work; you might not like the truths you uncover when you truly examine who you are, your motivations, or your negative thoughts.

But discomfort can be a great catalyst for change. So lean into these feelings, dig deeper, discover more, and use this fuel to create a better workplace for women+.

Related: What You Need to Know to Close the Gender Pay Gap

2. Formalize Mentorship & Sponsorship

One way to help women advance and get paid what they deserve is to formalize mentorship and sponsorship programs within your organization, especially if you found a gap in promotions for women or women of color.

Mentorship is critical to women’s success because it provides the opportunity for women+ to expand their perspectives, build social capital, be politically and organizationally savvy, and build the courage and confidence necessary to take on new opportunities or share their ideas in meetings.

Mentorship shouldn’t be limited to monthly meetings where you share stories of your experience and how you got to where you are now. The power in mentorship lies in sponsorship, advocacy and alignment. This means nominating your mentee for a new committee at work, publicly praising or acknowledging their accomplishments, and understanding their strengths to best position them for roles that will lead to advancement.

The best example of mentorship I can give you was a leader who took a chance on me. Fresh out of grad school with an unbreakable spirit and drive to “fix” healthcare, I learned more about leadership from him than I could ever learn in a classroom. He understood me; what motivated me, what I valued, my hopes and dreams, my doubts and fears. And he used his knowledge of me to position me where he knew I’d be successful: giving presentations to the leadership team, working in specific departments, networking with colleagues in sister hospitals. One of those colleagues even hired me in a promotional role. I credit much of my early success to his mentorship, advocacy and sponsorship, which helped me navigate a male-dominated, politically-charged industry.

If you don’t have formal mentorship programs currently in your organization, consider creating them now. You could start with mentorship programs for new managers, or for women+ on promotional tracks.

It’s important to include male leaders in these programs. Women mentoring women is a great place to start, but men need to be part of these conversations. When men continue to hold the majority of leadership and government positions throughout the world, it’s critical to have their support and sponsorship to advance women leaders.

You could also create peer mentorship opportunities through Employee Resource Groups or LeanIn Circles:

• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are groups of employees who join together in their workplace based on shared characteristics or life experiences. ERGs are generally based on providing support, enhancing career development, and contributing to personal development in the work environment.

• LeanIn Circles are powerful networks of like-minded women (and men!) who come together around a common goal: greater gender equality. The goal of this program is for all women+ to have the confidence and know-how to achieve their goals. This starts with an active and supportive community that encourages open sharing of stories and experiences intended to inspire, teach and connect us as employees. Every meeting ends with each member making a commitment to themselves to take action.

No matter which option you choose, be intentional about developing women and women of color in your organization through mentorship and sponsorship.

3. Reimagine Flexible Work Environments

Shifting back to something I mentioned earlier in this article, if 1 in 4 women left your organization due to burnout or fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic, how many women would you need to replace?

When you think of it in those terms, that’s a lot of time, effort and resources spent on recruiting, hiring and training a cadre of new employees. And if you haven’t addressed the workplace issues contributing to burnout, you’re creating a revolving door of women.

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that women tend to take on extra work to prove their worth in the workplace. The Women in the Workplace report confirmed this; women feel like they need to do more and contribute more, especially in a virtual work environment. And don’t forget the extra responsibilities women are taking on at home with their families.

Armed with this knowledge, you have a responsibility as a leader to create flexible environments for women to thrive. Burnout is on the rise, with 39% of employees attributing their burnout to balancing their personal and work lives.

Companies can take this opportunity to reimagine flexible work environments and re-establish work-life boundaries for women employees. This may look like formalizing set meeting times (e.g. meetings can only occur between 10am – 3pm, or no meetings during the lunch hour); setting expectations around communication about working hours or availability; encouraging employees to use paid time off, even if it’s for a staycation; and putting policies in place for responding to emails outside regular business hours.

To create these boundaries, you’ll also need the help of your management team. As a leader, you should practice what you preach, and invite your managers to do the same. If you model healthy work-life boundaries, it will encourage the women who report to you to do the same.

The Takeaway

Companies and employers have a responsibility to create equitable environments for women to advance their careers. It’s up to leaders to commit to closing the gender pay gap by providing transparency around pay data, reimagining flexibility, and creating formal avenues for women to grow and develop.

Take action now: Start with self-awareness. What does the current state of your organization look like? Where could you be more intentional to advance women of color? What barriers to advancement are your policies upholding? Begin examining these areas, then create a strategy around how your company can improve.

It takes commitment and action from all of us to close the gender pay gap. If you’re reading this as an employee and know your company could do more to advance women, why not spearhead an effort to analyze pay data or understand the employee experience? Leadership isn’t a title; you can lead from anywhere in the organization. All it takes is a drive to do better.

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