The Connection Between Unconscious Bias And Equal Pay
Many of us think of ourselves as fair and impartial when it comes to interacting with colleagues and employees. After all, diversity and inclusion are now an integral part of our corporate conversation.
Yet 53 years after the passage of the Equal Pay Act, women still earn an average of 84 cents to every dollar a man earns and are underrepresented in the leadership ranks in technology, venture capital, corporate boards, and other important sectors.
Sometimes people want to do the right thing but they need that extra push (e.g., regulation) to make it happen.
Let’s take, for example, the concept of unconscious bias. Many people understand that unconscious bias influences recruitment, career opportunities, and compensation.
Yale University conducted a study in 2012 where researchers created identical applications for a lab assistant role. They called one applicant “John” and the other “Jennifer.”
Guess what? The scientists overwhelmingly wanted to hire John over Jennifer and those who were willing to hire Jennifer wanted to pay her 12% less than John.
Again, these scientists were reviewing the same exact application.
Even though we know unconscious bias skews opportunities and creates an uneven playing field, we generally don’t volunteer the resources to manage bias and take proactive steps to create a level playing field for everyone. Hence, the 50+ years of social progress and we’re still waiting for pay equity and equal representation in corporate leadership and on corporate boards.
Given that context, it’s probably a good thing that California finally passed the Fair Pay Act, the toughest pay equity law in the country. As a result, employers are starting to budget for and conduct compensation audits to ensure pay equity through the workforce because they don’t have a choice.
Similar legislation is pending nationally to mandate that all employers with 100 or more employees audit and report on their compensation and gender for all jobs in the organization.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, is apparently supporting the national legislation after a Salesforce compensation audit last year revealed pay inequality amongst its 17,000 jobs. The results surprised Benioff and the company added $3 million to its payroll to address pay inequities.
Good intentions and wanting to be fair aren’t always enough; sometimes you need that extra push to get you moving. Well, California and our federal government are leaning in to give us a push in the right direction.
It’s time to proactively manage unconscious bias and conduct pay equity audits.
A good first step is to listen to Joelle Emerson discussing how to manage unconscious bias in the workplace.
