#TalentAttraction #Tuesday – Do You Really Want to Improve the Gender Wage Gap? It Is Simple

By RecruiterGuy | October 26, 2021

Research demonstrates that when compared to Men’s compensation, Women earn 18% to 20% less performing comparable work. Of course, some women earn comparable compensation as men. Unfortunately, they are in the minority.

How Does Human Resources Perpetuate The Gender Wage Gap?

Do you find it interesting that the women who also suffer in the comparison, are the ones whose decisions sustain the processes that continue to support the Gender Wage Gap?

I know that you thinking, “That is not possible.” It is – and it plays out every day under the guise of “screening candidates” or “saving time.”

Consider this – Most Human Resources Professionals will agree with me when I inform you that Human Resources is an Administrative or Compliance organization – even client support at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) agreed during a conversation in April 2020.

As an Administrative or Compliance organization, what is their priority? That all actions follow the company process. Who creates the Recruiting company process? Human Resources.

The majority of companies with an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or Human Resource Information System (HRIS) require candidates to complete a company application before submitting a resume for a Professional position. Why? The HR response is the famous “Because it is company process.”

What information is required in the company application before the candidate may submit their resume? Either their Current salary/Previous salary (unless prohibited by law) or Salary Requirement. Some companies will give $5,000 increments when asking salary requirements (i.e., $85,000 to $90,000 then $90,000to $95,000). The compliance side of their responsibilities forces candidates to pick a compensation dollar BEFORE completing the application and applying for a company position. Candidates are required to complete all information before their resume is accepted.

The candidate may not write the words Open nor Negotiable. They must write a number.

How Does This Process Negatively Impact Women’s Compensation?

Let us say a man with comparative skills and experience to a woman is also applying for the same position. For the sake of comparison (and to make my math easier), let us say the male was previously earning $100,000 in his position. Let us say the woman was earning the normal 20% less compensation for the same skills and experience. Therefore, her compensation was $80,000 in her previous position.

If both are required to write their previous compensation, the male will write $100,000 and the female professional will write $80,000. Let us say that each negotiates a 10% increase in compensation.

The man will now earn $110,000 per year – and the equally qualified woman will earn $88,000. She will have lost $2,000 more compensation ground to the man – and that is Not Right!

Now let us assume that the company is in one of the 22 states where state law prohibits asking for current or previous compensation.

Companies may still ask for the candidate’s salary requirement. The man will probably still ask for a 10% increase. Do you feel a woman will ask for a $16,000 increase (20%) to only close some of the gap? If she asked for a 30% increase ($24,000), she still would find herself behind the man who received $110,000.

As a career coach, I will guarantee you that very, very few professionals will give you a salary requirement that is 35% higher than their current compensation. Do you know who are those one or two professionals who would require a 35% increase? My money is on a male, and the bad news is they are not interested in the position for the long term. They just threw the number out thinking, “I will only work there if they give me that amount.” Once in that position, they will continue to look and leverage their new income to a position in a company where they really would like to work.

Didn’t You Say The Solution Is Simple?

I did.

Start within your organization. Equity starts at home. Honestly look at experience, skills, and productivity within your company. Do not listen to people who boast about their skills and experience. Look at their productivity.

Companies do not always do a good job of measuring productivity. May I suggest you adjust your culture to a goal setting culture? If the goals are created by building consensus between managers and their direct reports – and are reasonable and attainable goals, they will be accepted. This enables managers to determine who met, did not meet, or exceeded expectations. These more meaningful annual reviews will assist the company to determine who needs higher raises to create that elusive equity.

The second solution is to take responsibility to determine the ranges where candidates belong in your salary structure. Do not discuss compensation until you have interviewed candidates. Now, you have something to discuss because you know where the skills and experience of the candidate fit within Your Organization’s employees’ skills.

The third solution is to allow Professionals to submit resumes without completing an application until there is a Zoom or personal interview. Delete the $$$ compensation requirement in the application and allow the words “Open” or “Negotiable” to be used.

In many positions would it not be helpful to experience how well the person negotiates terms before they become employed, rather than waiting for them to be employed?

All of these achievable steps will enable organizations in the United States to close the Gender Wage Gap sooner than later. And that will be good.

Recruiting is Not Magic. It is Focused, Hard Work.

Talent Attraction is Better than Talent Acquisition!

If you would like a conversation on how to ATTRACT talent instead of using an Applicant Tracking System or HRIS to screen them out, we should chat. Call me directly at 435-714-4425 (mountain).

I am available to consult with your company to improve your Top Talent Attraction strategy. Attracting and integrating Top Talent gives your company an industry edge. The process is worth the effort by improving productivity, innovation, and profitability – Look at Google, Tesla, SpaceX, and Apple. Retaining Top Talent keeps your industry knowledge inside your company – instead of with the competition.

The RecruiterGuy.com Top Talent Attraction business model is my differentiator. I focus on one client at a time and charge a flat monthly fee. This model enables me to attract new talent to your organization while identifying and suggesting improvements to your company’s Talent Attraction process, including Manager Interview Training. https://recruiterguy.com/

Learn how I coach my Career Transition Clients in my most recent book – Employee 5.0: Secrets Of A Successful Job Search In The New World Order http://amzn.to/2D9w39f My book includes an appendix with action verbs and sample interview questions.

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