Why Salary Equity is a Hiring Non-Negotiable
I consider pay equity to be the hill I will die on, and for good reason. According to the National Women’s Law Center for every dollar a man makes in Virginia, a woman makes $0.80. The numbers are worse for Women of Color with Latinas making $0.56, Native women making $0.61, and Black women making $0.60.
Unfortunately, when you spend as much time reviewing job postings as I do, you really start to notice practices that are inequitable and honestly, just dated. Today, I am going to focus on postings that ask applicants to submit their salary requirements.
When it comes to pay inequity, there are three important concepts to understand when requiring someone to submit their salary requirements.
The Confidence Gap — Women and People of Color are socialized to discuss money and salary negotiations at a lower rate than white men. Basically, the lower the number you start with in negotiations will result in a lower number you end at. We know that Women and People of Color start lower so they will end up being paid less.
Penalization for Negotiation — When women do negotiate their salaries, they are penalized for this compared to men. From a study completed on gender discrimination, “The negative effect of negotiating is more than two times greater for women than it is for men. When assessing willingness to work with candidates, there was no decline in evaluators’ willingness to work with a male candidate who attempted negotiations. However, the negative effect of initiating a negotiation is 5.5 times greater if the candidate is female.”
Exploitive Paternalism — We all know you have an idea of what you are going to offer for a salary. No one hires without knowing how much they can afford to pay—and if you find yourself in this position, I’d suggest you do more forward thinking before you list a position. The only conclusion I can come to is that you want to hire someone for the least amount as possible. Either way, it’s not going to result in the best candidate pool.
When I am recruiting here at The Spark Mill, the very first question anyone wants to know is how much the job pays. I can’t imagine recruiting someone and then turning this question over to them by asking how much they want to make. It requires job seekers to know things that are not possible but are important in calculating salaries—like the market rate, the budget, overall funding streams, what current employees make, and the total costs of benefits.
Don’t worry, we practice what we preach here at The Spark Mill, so you won’t see us providing hiring support without a published salary range. Luckily, we aren’t alone in that, and it’s clear the tides are turning. Don’t be left behind.