April is National Financial Literacy Month. To mark the occasion, MarketWatch will publish a series of “Financial Fitness” articles to help readers improve their fiscal health, and offer advice on how to save, invest and spend their money wisely. Read more here.
Ask and you shall receive — unless you’re female, apparently.
A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that both men and women often fail to ask for more money than what they are initially offered at a new job. And that’s because 60% of all employed adults said they didn’t ask for higher pay the last time they were negotiating the starting salary.
But if you break this down by gender, the Pew figures show that women are less likely to ask for a higher starting salary at a new gig than men are. That is, 28% of women said they asked for higher pay, compared with 32% of men. And that’s in part because more women (42%) said they felt uncomfortable asking for higher pay than the percentage of men (33%) who didn’t feel comfortable pushing for more.
Worse, when women did ask for more money, they were less likely to get it. Some 38% of women said that after asking for higher pay, they were only given what had initially been offered, compared to 31% of men who didn’t get what they asked.
It speaks to what’s been referred to as the gender “ask gap.” And the Pew study isn’t the first to pick up on this: A study of Argentinian workers also found that women “ask for significantly less than men” — about 6%.
Recruitment and HR experts say it’s a sad fact of the workplace — and it’s one that obviously contributes to the well-documented gender pay gap: Women earn 77 cents for every dollar that white men earn, according to one analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
But why do women fail to ask for more? Allison Stevens, director of HR services for Paychex, a payroll-services company, says that women and other underrepresented groups, such as people of color, are trapped in a vicious cycle.
They “have been paid less for years,” she says. “As a result, they may be more likely to settle for less than they’re worth.”
Related: U.S. gender pay gap barely budged over the past 20 years. Why not?
Holly Norton, a human-resources business consultant with Strunk HR, a company that provides employment-related services, says women have often “been trained not to speak about money” as part of their upbringing, so it becomes a challenge for them to do so during a salary negotiation. And if they do push, they fear they may be branded as bossy, Norton says.
“I think it’s been ingrained for females to avoid conflict, and smile,” Norton says.
But here’s the thing: Asking for more pay can, well, pay off. The Pew survey found that 28% of people overall who pushed for better compensation said they received their desired salary. And 38% said that, while they didn’t get their requested figure, they still got more than the original offer.
So, how should women advocate for themselves during negotiations? It’s all about understanding your worth and adhering to a few key strategies, experts advise. And — surprise! — these tips often apply equally to men.
With that in mind, here are five ways that career experts advise to go about getting the salary you want.
Know what you want
First, it’s important to identify what you need financially and emotionally — meaning what you need to earn to cover your expenses, as well as what you need to earn to feel like you’re being properly treated. Jessica Vann, chief executive of Maven Recruiting Group, a California-based job recruiter, sums it up as: “Know what your personal bottom line is.”
Know your worth in the job market
You can easily do compensation research online, especially in an era of growing pay transparency, to see what kind of salary offer is reasonable for the job you’ve landed. “Figure out the average salary range for the type of work you’ll be doing to set a baseline. Then, refine it based on your industry, location, and experience level,” says Stevens of Paychex.
Assert yourself
No one probably ever negotiated a better offer by staying quiet. So, this is a time for women to speak up. “It’s not pushing, it’s just being true to what you know,” says Norton of Strunk HR. Also, always take into account that the company wants to hire you — you’ve passed the critical hurdle, so there’s no reason not to remind the powers-that-be of that fact, and the value proposition you represent to the organization.
Avoid this one key phrase
Vann says that if there’s one thing you should never, ever state during a salary negotiation, it’s that someone else — your spouse, your best friend, a colleague in the industry — told you to ask for a certain amount. It shows a certain lack of confidence in your own worth, Vann explains. “Even if you’re getting advice from other people, you’re the stakeholder,” she said. “It needs to come from you.”
Don’t make it just about salary
Keep in mind that even if you may not get what you want in terms of salary, but there are other things that can be negotiated — your vacation time, your ability to work from home, your medical and other benefits. “Ancillary things can outweigh just the base salary,” says Norton.
Read the full article here
