Survey finds half of women don't ask for a raise, but 'HR teams should empower women with tools and information so they can truly advocate for themselves'
The gender pay gap still exists — that’s hardly surprising — but for many female employees, the future is looking bright.
Forty per cent of workers surveyed believe the gap will disappear in 10 years, according to a new survey released by Indeed Canada on International Women’s Day.
“There’s a general sense of optimism amongst Canadian women when it comes to their current position in the workforce so this is a very positive insight and it’s especially surprising given what’s happening in the economy right now,” says Michelle Slater, director, country marketing, Canada, at Indeed Canada in Toronto.
The survey heard from 1,500 Canadian working women between Jan. 4 and 13. It was prepared by Indeed and Nicole Haggerty, assistant dean, mentorship at the Ivey Business School, Western University in London, Ont.
While the research showed that there is cautious hopefulness about the future — as about two-thirds also believe the shortfall will be gone in 50 years — not all organizations are falling into line today.
“Big companies are now doing a lot of surveys and research into how are they paying at various levels for the same position, the same job and I’ve seen them making adjustments,” says Jennifer Reynolds, CEO at Women Corporate Directors Foundation (WCD) in Toronto. “We’re seeing in larger companies that is happening, where you’ve got more sophisticated HR teams.”
But for other companies, the reality is much different.
“At smaller and medium sized companies, those types of reviews aren’t happening,” she says.
More provinces and jurisdictions are mandating transparency, but how can employers do this effort correctly?
Raise requests uncommon
Despite some of the positive feelings about tomorrow, 65 per cent of women respondents said they are not paid enough today. And when going to supervisors asking to be paid more, only 31 per cent felt comfortable doing so — while 46 per cent have never asked for a raise, found the survey.
“What I found was fascinating is that not that many women asked for a raise, but the women who do, the 54 per cent of the women who do, almost 80 per cent of them were successful in getting a raise,” says Slater. “In fact, 38 per cent of the women who asked for a raise got the full amount they requested.”
“I strongly encourage women to do a little bit of research to find out what it is that they should be earning. Have a quick look with the salary transparency tool and calculator we have on our website. Look at some job postings that would be at a similar level, similar position, similar type of industry and see what the pay range is; talk to their friends and family, talk to people in their industry, and then make the ask, ask their manager for a raise,” she says.
Employers need to recognize the disparity and make systemic changes and take down barriers for women advocating for more pay, says Reynolds.
“Obviously, companies are a little bit torn on that front: encouraging employees to ask for money but at the same time, you do want to make sure that if you’re having that conversation, really good companies are doing the analysis around someone who, in the same job, what are they getting paid? And is it fair?”
Culture builds confidence
So what can be done to help alleviate this issue right now? It begins with a positive work culture, according to the survey, as 83 per cent of respondents believe this is important to them and it is one of four key areas they want from employers (the others being compensation, work-life balance and job security).
“Women are valuing diversity, equality, inclusion policies, and they are looking for workplaces where they can be themselves and feel that they belong. They want their voices to be heard but also, this sense of belonging can make women feel a lot more confident in voicing any concerns they may have,” says Slater.
So, how can HR know if it is succeeding?
“There’s one thing about getting diverse slates and making sure you hire at the same number. You can do all those good things there on the hiring front, and then it all goes wrong in the culture and is it really inclusive?” says Reynolds.
“You’ll know if you’re doing that well by your retention numbers: if you hire a bunch of diverse talent, whether that’s women or under other underrepresented groups, and then you’re not retaining them, then you have to turn the spotlight on yourself and understand that: ‘We hired but what did we did wrong after that?’” she says.
Pay transparency is a great way to remove gaps in gender pay, found a recent university study.
How HR can step up
For HR to force changes in organizations, challenging conversations have to take place, according to Reynolds.
“I think providing the information to senior management around ‘What are best practices, what are other people doing?’ And sometimes you can light a fire under your own company, if you say, ‘Look at this company over here who’s doing a really good job.’”
It’s also important to remember some of the unique challenges working women face, says Slater.
“Women are uncomfortable with topics such as pay raises. The onus has to be more on organization to have more transparency, including salary bands on internal websites, so that women know ‘Am I in the right pay range?’”
“HR teams should empower women with tools and information so that they can truly advocate for themselves.”
More employers are placing pay information in want ads, found another survey.
Finding out how leaders are managing female staff is another key way to eliminate the gap, says Reynolds.
“Often with managers, it’s not by intent that they’re not trying to get diverse slates or hiring or promoting in a certain manner so [it’s about] giving them the tools to make sure that they’re managing talent appropriately, and that they have the right skills to do that.”
In order for female employees to move up the ladder, “make it known,” says Reynolds.
“Often people assume that others know they want to get promoted, or aspire to different things. You’ve got to make it known and I think that encourages them to take those risks and put up their hands to take on these different assignments.”
