Someone recently asked me how to handle this sticky situation.  During an interview with the person who would be her boss, she was told a sales job paid $50,000 as a base.  When the actual offer letter came from Human Resources it said she would be paid $4,000 monthly — or $2,000 less than what the interviewer told her. 

Before making any suggestions, I asked the woman what other benefits came with the job.  She said there was a retirement plan, health insurance, vacation, and a number of other perks.  That’s what’s known as the compensation package.  In most larger companies the compensation package is valued at about 30 – 35% of the base salary.   In light of this, she didn’t want to lose the job over $2,000.

I suggested she call the HR person and say, “First I’m delighted at the offer to come to work with your firm.  I just want to clarify the salary.  In the interview I was told it would be $50,000 annually but the letter indicates $48,000.”  She did this and the HR person got “snippy” with her.  He asked if a difference of $2,000 was a deal-buster.  Thinking on her feet she said no, she just wanted clarification.  This seemed to calm the man but didn’t change the base offer.  

When times are tough employers will make it seem as if you should be grateful for any job offer.  It may cause you to lose clarity around what you want and need in a compensation package.  Salary is only one factor to take into consideration or negotiate before deciding whether or not to accept a job.  Here are a few more things to think about before you even start interviewing.  Giving these issues thought in advance will help you to focus on the companies who can most realistically meet your expectations and weed out the ones that are bound to disappoint you. 

• What are the non-negotiable items that must be present?  These are things that you must have in a job or you will turn down the offer.  Perhaps your husband has great healthcare benefits for the entire family and that’s not important to you, but flex hours are because you have young children or are getting a degree at a brick and mortar college.  This might suggest that you look at a smaller company that recognizes its lack of health insurance is a deterrent to hiring and would jump at the chance to get you by offering flexibility.  Or maybe you have a few kids who will soon be college bound and you’re worried about how you’re going to pay their tuition.  This might cause you to look into jobs on college campuses that provide free tuition to the children of employees.   In some cases a particular salary level might be a non-negotiable item as well.  Knowing your non-negotiables in advance will help you to identify your best source for getting them. 
• What are the negotiable elements of your desired compensation package?  These are the things that you might be willing to trade one for another.  For example, a lower salary for the opportunity to work in a particular industry (people do this all the time to work in the entertainment field).   Number of vacation days, tuition reimbursement, mileage for using your personal car on business, moving expenses, life insurance, bonuses, and training opportunities  are a few more.  Remember, all of these things cost the company money and have a dollar value attached — for both you and the employer.
• Wear and tear.  You’re offered a job paying $100,000 in San Francisco.  You currently live in a suburb about 40 miles away where jobs pay less.  Is the money more important to you than the two hour commute you’ll have to make every day?  Or would you rather have less money and a shorter commute?  Can you negotiate to telecommute a few times a week?  Would flex hours make it less wear and tear on you?  These are all things to consider and factor into your decision.  Although the cost of wear and tear is hard to compute, it’s there.
• On-site child care.  Although this benefit is still no where as prevalent as I think it should be in our country, enlightened companies do offer it.  Check out the annual issue of Working Mother magazine that lists the best companies for women to work for. 
• 401K plans.  This is no small consideration.  Solid companies with strong 401K plans can offer you matching funds that pave the way for your retirement nest egg.

The interview is not the time to ask about compensation packages unless the interviewer brings it up.  That’s why advance thought and research is needed.  Times are tough and you’ve got to be even tougher.

TAGS: compensation packages, negotiating pay, Working Mother magazine

If you aim low, low is what you get. A recent survey of college graduates conducted by the National Association of College Employers revealed:

• When asked what they expect to earn in their first job, women expected to earn $10,000 less than men did.
• Women actually earned $40,000 on average, $7,500 more than they anticipated.
• Men earned $50,000 on average.

While some of the gender differences in both salary expectations and salaries earned can be explained by the fact that women tend to enter lower paying industries such as education and government where as men tend to end up in higher paying sectors such as engineering and consulting, there is still a gap in every industry.

Perhaps most interesting is that in healthcare, an industry dominated by women, the salary gap was the widest ─ over 30%.

Over a working lifetime, the gender gap in pay is estimated to cost a college educated woman over $1,000,000. That’s a lot of money. Not only does it affect your ability to support yourself and your family while you are working, but it also impacts the amount of money you will be able to save for retirement as well as donate to causes you believe in.

How can you best prepare to get what you deserve?

1. Do your homework
   Determine what the salary range is for the job you want in your geographic area and industry. There is a wealth of information available on the internet (for example, see jobsearchintelligence.com) but don’t stop there. Ask people in the industry what you should expect in terms of compensation. Be realistic yet optimistic, assessing your education and experience carefully so that you are able to explain where you fit in the salary range band and why that is the case.
   
   
2. Know what your alternatives are
   In order to negotiate effectively, you must know what alternatives you have ─ what will you do if you are unable to get a reasonable offer from this prospective employer? Do you have other offers or good prospects that may soon develop into offers? If so, you have leverage in the negotiation. If not, what can you do to improve your situation? When the other party senses that you have no alternative but to take what is offered, he or she will be tempted to give as little as possible and you will be anxious to take it. Don’t put all your eggs into one basket; as you move through the interviewing process with a company, continue to explore other possible opportunities.
3. Practice, practice, practice
   Enlist a friend you trust to play the role of the interviewer and practice. Experiment with various approaches ─ what will you say if the interviewer asks you what your salary requirements are? How will you respond if the interviewer throws out a number that is below market? Practice is precious because although it is helpful to have thought about how the conversation will go and how you will respond but it is entirely different to get the words out of your mouth in a way that is comfortable for you. You won’t be able to anticipate and practice the entire negotiation but you’ll be surprised at how much you can foresee.

Don’t be reluctant to advocate for yourself appropriately and respectfully. While you may want the job, if you are underpaid, you probably won’t be very happy.

TAGS: benchmarking salary, negotiating pay, salary, salary sites

We’ve now finished collecting responses to The Thin Pink Line Survey and are delighted to announce that the winner of the complimentary one hour coaching session has been selected at random from those who completed the survey. Of course, her identity will remain confidential but she’s been notified by email. Thanks so much to all of you who participated in the survey; we very much appreciate your candid and thoughtful responses.

One thing that many of you have identified as an issue in the workplace is the fact that we are still dealing with the gender gap in pay. Recently, here in the US, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law by President Obama. This important legislation restores the ability for women to sue when they have been victims of pay discrimination ─ but proving discrimination in a lawsuit isn’t easy. In Ledbetter’s case, the facts were clear; often they aren’t. If you feel you aren’t getting paid fairly, start by negotiating.

If you’d like more information about how to do that, take a look at the Resources Page on the Negotiating Women website for articles you can download.  If you want to build your negotiating skills,  take one of our e-learning courses.

TAGS: Equal pay, negotiating pay, Pay Disparity

Liz Wolgemuth of U. S. News and World Report interviewed me for a piece she published yesterday about the stress women are feeling about the state of the economy. As things get more difficult, women are facing challenges both at home and at work.

She asked me if I thought women were feeling more stress than men.

Answer: Yes, because by 2:1, women serve as the family CFO. And as CFOs, they are faced with decisions about how to make ends meet in the short term as well as longer term issues such paying for college and saving for retirement.

She asked me if women should hold off asking for a raise (or a bonus) given the struggles businesses are facing now.

Answer: Not necessarily. I believe that if you deserve a raise, you should ask for it. Of course, as always, you should be prepared to articulate a strong case on your accomplishments on behalf of the company ─ not just what you have accomplished but how your contribution has helped the firm:

• Increase revenue
• Decrease costs
• Manage risk

If you want the nuts and bolts of how to negotiate compensation, email me at carol@negotiatingwomen.com because I am offering a complimentary download of our e-learning course, Getting What You’re Worth (a $99.95 value) to The Thin Pink Line readers in return for your agreement to let me know how you benefited from it. Please email me right away as this is a limited time offer!

As I told Liz, it has been my experience that stress is exacerbated by feeling powerless. When things you can’t control are going in the wrong direction, be proactive. Putting a full financial plan ─ one that addresses financial objectives, considers ongoing (hopefully rising) income as well as expenses ─ in place will allow you to see where the gaps are and to take appropriate action. You’ll feel better, trust me.

It also helps to breathe deeply.

TAGS: difficult economy, financial crisis, financial freedom, negotiating pay, planning for the future, reducing stress

I’m hoping that every woman in America pays attention to the issue of pay equity this election.  You may know that a white woman earns only .76 for every dollar her male colleague makes; the numbers are even more dismal for women of color.

But you may not know that sometimes women get paid less than men to do the same job.  Yes, that’s discriminatory but sometimes the employer gets away with it.

Take the case of Lilly Ledbetter for example.  Ledbetter, an Alabama grandmother, worked at a Goodyear tire plant for 19 years, blazing a trail as a female supervisor. She found out that, despite commendations for her work, she had received smaller raises than had the male supervisors.  Ledbetter sued – and won but Goodyear appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.  The Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that her claim fails because she had not filed it within a six month time frame from the time the initial discrimination began.  Hard to do, since she didn’t know that she was being discriminated against until years later.

In 2006, I had the privilege of speaking with Hillary Clinton on the topic of pay equity for women.

She was eloquent on the topic; truly committed to the notion that women should get equal pay for equal work.  Her senate website offers a pamphlet on the subject (guess who contribured the negotiaitng tips?)

Hillary is still committed to that notion; in her speech at the DNC, she contrasted the Democratic platform with that of John McCain, saying, “And in 2008, he still thinks it’s OK when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work.”

Barack Obama supports pay equity as well.  As he said when he accepted the Democratic nomination in Denver:

“And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day’s work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.”

Not only should we be paying attention to the candidate’s positions on the the issue of pay equity, we should be paying attention to the progress of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that Republicans have stalled in Congress (see the National Women’s Law Center website for the latest attack and contact your representatives to stop it).  That legislation would fix the outcome of the Supreme Court decision described above – restoring reason and interjecting a strong dose of reality to a situation that affects every working woman in America.

TAGS: candidates, Equal pay, income disparity, issues, negotiating pay

I gave an interview the other day to Daryl Hannah of Diversity Inc with some advice for those negotiating a job offer.  Here’s the piece he wrote.

TAGS: Interview skills, negotiating pay, Women and Money

Marci Alboher’s Shifting Careers New York Times blog post last week cited the same Penelope Trunk blog post mentioned here regarding transparency with regard to compensation. Marci wrote:

A few months ago, I went to hear Gloria Steinem speak. She said many memorable things, including this: If women were more willing to reveal their salaries to one another, they would make strides in eliminating the gender gap in wages.

She then asked for readers who are in situations where their salaries are either “published” or reasonably transparent to comment. As you can imagine, a lively discussion ensued. Themes I noted:

• people who work in environments where compensation information is available are fine with it — it doesn’t seem to bother them except when they feel that coworkers are taking advantage of the protection they have as a result of being unionized or government workers
• many believe that secrecy benefits the company (whose managers may be making subjective decisions free from scrutiny) and those who are highly paid, disadvantaging others including women
• lots of people just don’t want to know — the idea that a coworker who produces less is being paid more cause all kinds of problems for them.

Yet, knowledge is power. Research shows that women who have solid data can more effectively negotiate for themselves. While you may not be comfortable asking your colleagues how much money they make, do your homework. Some sites to check:

• www.payscale.com
• www.salary.com
• www.glassdoor.com

Also, consider other ways to scout for information. Check, for example, to see if there is a salary survey published for your industry. Also take a look at job message boards (Vault is one of my favorites). Join an industry association where you’ll be able to meet other people who do the same sort of work that you do. You don’t have to ask them straight out how much money they make; instead, position your inquiry as a more general question, for example, “What information can you share with me about the salary range for my position at your company?”

One of the readers commented that in Norway there is complete transparency with regard to earnings – evidently there is a database where income (and the amount of tax paid!) is available. Hmmm, maybe we have to move there to close the gender gap in pay?

TAGS: Equal pay, Marci Alboher, negotiating pay, Pay Disparity, Penelope Trunk

I just finished (hopefully) four days of my fifteen-year-old daughter battling a nasty stomach virus. She’s looking much better today. But it was stressful and little sleep was had.

It reminded me of the many years when she and her brothers were ill and my mother was in and out of emergency rooms while I was trying to do a great job at work and later be promoted to levels women had not reached. Keeping a career going strong under those circumstances is an extraordinary challenge. Even with a husband like mine who has been very involved when the children have been ill and there for me and I for him when things have gotten difficult, meeting family and work demands remains a major challenge for most women.

If you’ve been listening to Senator Obama talk about women’s pay being significantly lower than that of men and his references to Michelle Obama carrying the lion’s share of taking care of their children, you can’t help but wonder why so little has changed since books like The Second Shift were published. Betty Friedan used to tell me that we were in the “second stage”, the title of one of her books, that men were becoming more involved and women were making progress along side of their male counterparts. And certainly to some extent that was and is true.

But I frequently hear from women (young ones too) discovering that they are being paid less than men doing the same jobs. There are those who argue that this is not an issue for government. And I understand that it surely isn’t totally that. Women need to learn to be vigilent about where they stand in terms of salary — before they take a job. And when they haven’t done that, they need to find out where they stand in relation to men doing the same job and find ways within their organization to remedy that inequity. So, in other words, part of the challenge falls to individual women — to all of us. It falls to men to consider such inequity wrong and to do what they can do to alter the situation whether they are managers or colleagues of women underpaid, undervalued or underutilized.

That having been said, it behooves all women to pay attention to what is going on around them. A friend of mine told me last week that her daughter was being offered a consulting job. They didn’t want to pay her what she was worth and the going rate. Her father and mother advised her to walk away. And she did. Too many talented women are talked into less than they deserve. Sometimes that’s required — for a short period of time. When it becomes a habit, women as individuals and as a group lose ground. We inadvertently teach younger women and daughters that it’s fine to accept being undervalued.

We need to keep our eyes wide open, vote for candidates who are serious about improving women’s pay and lessening workplace discrimination. We should expect much from senators and congresspeople in this regard and write to them and/or not vote for them when they fail us. And we should make sure women are not penalized for having children, doing the right thing in terms of being with them when they’re ill, and caring for parents who are ill. We should nudge and even push organizations to be flexible in such times as they are rarely long-term.

In our own relationships, we need to be negotiators of shared responsibility. Individual women should look at their lives, look at the loads they carry, and when they have partners negotiate responsibilities with them. It’s easy to believe that you’re the only one who can feed the baby properly, load the dishwasher the “right way,” soothe an ailing child, work with children on homework, etc. We hurt ourselves this way. And the first step in getting organizations and government to do what is right by women is to do what is right for ourselves. It’s a multi-pronged endeavor.

TAGS: Equal pay, family expectations, family leave, government involvement in pay equity, negotiating pay, overworked

With all the talk of economic instability, it may seem untoward to be thinking about how to ask for a raise but if you have demonstrated the value you bring to your company, it very well may be feasible.  In fact, smart companies are more likely to want to keep their top talent satisfied in challenging times.

The May/June issue of Pink Magazine (cited here before) included 2007 survey results which indicated that 51% of women had asked for a raise, perk or promotion (down from 54% in 2006).  And it paid to ask – of those who did, 79% heard “yes”.

When you get ready to broach the subject, start by benchmarking what you should be paid.  Penelope Trunk (The Brazen Careerist) mentioned a few online sources she recommends in a recent post. This step is critical for women who get much better outcomes when they negotiate for themselves armed with good information. 

TAGS: Economy, income, income disparity, negotiating pay, Negotiation, negotiation skills, Penelope Trunk, recession, strategies for success, Women and Money, women's equality

I’ve often thought it odd that people seem to be more reluctant to talk about their income than their sex lives-but that may be changing.  The NY Times reported yesterday that young people are more likely to share information about salary information (see Not-So-Personal Finance).  This trend is good news for women; the more women know about what others are making, the more likely they are to ask for what they are worth.

As you may know, the gender gap in pay affects not only older women but younger women as well.  For example, starting salaries of men with MBAs are 7.6% higher than those for women. Only 7% of women, but 57% of men asked for more money; those who negotiated increased starting salaries by 7.4%.

One of the things that makes the difference for women is good information.  So, keep up the sharing!

TAGS: differences between women and men, Fairness at work, financial planning, gaining confidence, negotiating pay, negotiation skills, Pay Disparity, Women at Work, women's equality