Pay Equity in the Workplace: Do Gender Based Disparities Still Exist?

The American Association of University Women released its Fall 2017 Gender Pay Gap report/guide with statistics regarding the pay disparity between women and men. In this issue of Astronology®, we look into how broad these pay disparities truly are and how this situation impacts Human Resources.

According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), women earned 80% of what men earned. The smallest pay gap was found in New York, where women earned 89% of what men earned. California came in second at close to 88%, with Florida third at 87%. The largest pay gaps were Utah and Louisiana at 70%. Some writers highlight that the AAUW’s findings do not take into account personal choices with respect to careers. These choices or factors include college major, occupation, industry, hours worked, workplace flexibility, and experiences.

Yet in AAUW’s recent research findings, unexplained pay gaps still exist even when men and women have the same level of education. For instance, women with a Bachelor’s degree make 74% of what their male counterparts with the same education earn. Women with a high school graduation level education made 78% of what their male counterparts earned.

In regards to industry, there is research that notes a few fields were women make more than their male counterparts. These fields tend to be historically male-dominated fields such as riggers, small engine mechanics, and non-oil & no-gas drillers. For many industries, however, a gender pay gap exists, with male counterparts making more. In some cases, the gaps are closer than others. These findings, plus additional research & speculation, lead many to believe that personal choices can’t fully account for the gender pay gap. Adding to the importance of the discussion, a Pew Research Center report finds that 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income for the family.

What can HR departments do to prevent gender-based pay disparity? Keeping accurate records is an important step. The AAUW urges employers to “conduct salary audits to proactively monitor and address gender-based pay differences.” Astron Solutions offers an array of packages to support organizations in the quest for fair and equitable compensation programs. We encourage you to learn more about how we can be your trusted partner in this critical and sensitive matter! If you do not use an outside consultant, however, closely watching your organization’s internal salary increases, salaries for new hires, and salary changes associated with promotions is critical in eliminating gender-based pay gaps in your organization. An ounce of prevention today is worth a pound of cure tomorrow.

A Few Post-MLK Day Articles

Hope that everyone who was off yesterday had a nice day off and everyone who had to work didn't have too bad of a Monday. As we all exercise our ability to be part of this workforce, we can thank people like Martin Luther King Jr. and others who made this opportunity possible for us. Even those who are out of work can certainly take a day to reflect and that's the important part of holidays like yesterday.

HR.BLR takes it one step further and says that MLK Day should be an opportunity for workplaces to celebrate diversity and instead of talking about how we're all the same, talk about the unique ways in which we are different. Everyone brings something to the workplace and having diverse backgrounds is one way to help build a successful organization.

The New York Times has a story about some Starbucks workers in New York City who took the holiday to celebrate...and then to protest. If you're trying to argue for some sort of equality, MLK Day seems like a good occasion to do so, even for baristas.

Lastly, from the Boston Globe JobDoc, some advice on handling a canceled interview. Although this information is for the candidate, a lot of advice can be extracted for the interviewer in how they handle their interview cancellations.

Bill Belichick, Advice and Lists, and a Stress-Free Holiday Season

Let's start out on this Tuesday with The HR Capitalist who talks about the most-talked-about head coach in the NFL so far this week, Bill Belichick (picture on right from same article) who was under fire across the country for a decision to make a non-convential decision in a big spot (and to be fair, some agree with his decision). The blog defends Belichick saying that unconventional decisions like that are what you need to do to win and how Tom Brady, the New England Patriots' quarterback, backed up his head coach.

The truth is that you do have to make big decisions that leave yourself open to second-guessing if you are to be a successful leader, but when the move doesn't work out, you can't always hide behind the loyalty of your "team" as Belichick clearly has done. But then again, Belichick wouldn't have that loyalty unless he had some success.

Other articles:

About.com has some advice for creating a stress-free holiday season in the office

Some great articles from Human Resource Magazine including:

• How to become an HR contractor 

• The top 5 retention tools

• And; top 10 equal pay questions for employers

Enjoy!

What I’m Hearing…The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Compensation came to the forefront of the nation last night, as Democratic Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton interrupted their campaigns to return to Washington, D.C. to vote on pending legislation. The topic at hand? The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The legislation failed to pass in the Senate, with a 56-42 vote. The bill is likely dead for the rest of 2008.

The Ledbetter Act’s main focus was to extend the statue of limitations for filing pay discrimination claims. Had the law been passed, individuals would have been able to file such lawsuits years and decades after the alleged discrimination occurred.

I don’t disagree with the need to ensure equal pay between the sexes. With all other factors being equal, paying someone less simply because she is a woman is wrong. However, the concept of statute of limitations is an important part of our legal system. We cannot allow new legislation on matters including and beyond Human Resources to erode this foundation. Otherwise, our already litigious society will become even more so, with far reaching effects including higher insurance costs, increased money spent on legal fees, greater court backlog, and general ill will. Let’s instead focus our time on preventing such discriminatory actions from occurring in the first place, and proactively remedying any that may have unfortunately already occurred.