Coins symbolizing the gender pay gap.

Bridge the Gender Pay Gap with Transparent, Flexible Workplaces

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If you ask any employer, they would most likely tell you that it’s important to them that their employees are happy and engaged at work. But one problem—the gender pay gap—continues to persist as a thorn in the side of female workers everywhere.

And with good reason: when a large segment of the working population (i.e., women) earn an estimated 71 percent of what men earn, according to data from Harvard economist Claudia Goldin, that has a huge impact on business—and not in a positive way. Goldin and other researchers are quoted in a New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller called, “How to Bridge that Stubborn Pay Gap.”

If for no other reason, the negative business impact of the gender pay gap makes it important for companies to take on the onus of fixing the gap…once and for all.

Here are a few ways to bridge the gender pay gap—and make the most of your entire workforce.

1. Offer transparent, flexible workplaces.

Sadly, some companies that have flexible work policies keep it hush hush, as if flex were a dirty word. Thing is, the vast majority of job seekers are desperately seeking flexible work options (many rank it as the second-most important criteria of a job, after compensation).

If a company’s flex is hidden, only offered to executive-level workers, or is begrudgingly granted by bosses to only a smattering of workers, it makes for an ineffective policy. Instead, companies should adopt a flexible work policy to aid in hiring top talent and retain the good workers they already have (such as working parents who might have had to quit due to inflexible working hours), and in turn, they will get a stronger, more productive, and invested team that cares about the company’s overall success.

2. Make salaries public knowledge.

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For the most part, companies and job seekers alike are kind of reticent to reveal how much a job’s salary is worth—or how much they want to receive. When companies make information on salaries easily accessible (say, in the job description), then there’s no longer a secrecy about salaries.

If a company is unwittingly an accomplice in the gender pay gap, seeing the salaries of all of its male and female workers in black and white (and the potential pay disparity) can be an eye-opener—and the start of closing the gender pay gap.

3. Encourage negotiation.

A Carnegie Mellon University study found that slightly more than half (51.5 percent) of men, but only 12.5 percent of women, will negotiate for a higher salary when they are offered a job. And even when they did ask for more moola, women requested 30 percent less than men. Why is this?

Chalk it up to feeling that they have to accept the offer on the table, lack of negotiating skills, or the fear of making a potential employer “dislike” them, and it’s easy to see why women don’t negotiate. But when working women fail to negotiate, they stand to lose—a lot.

It’s estimated that women who do not negotiate lose upwards of $750,000 during their career, and for executive-level women, it’s a staggering $2 million. Companies that welcome negotiations—from male and female job seekers alike—can help bridge the gender pay gap.

4. Forget about former salaries.

Many companies will ask their leading job applicants for their previous salaries. They do this as a jumping-off point in determining how much the candidate has earned in the past and what he’s potentially worth to the company he’s applying to work for.

If women have typically earned less than men, then stating their lower salaries earned in the past means that they already start off the negotiation process at a disadvantage—and therefore are allowing the gender pay gap to continue. Instead, companies can forget about former salaries and judge the candidate based on his qualifications—not how much cash he earned at his last job—and what they think the job is worth. FYI: Google is a proponent of this hiring method.

5. Stop the gender pay gap before it starts.

The gender pay gap doesn’t really start to happen until working women become working mothers. That’s when off-ramping occurs, due to taking care of young children or shifting from a full-time to a part-time schedule. Not every working mother wants to quit their careers and stay home with their kids but are sometimes forced to do so based on certain factors that make it almost impossible to stay in the workforce.

Options like affordable child care, on-site care, paid parental leave, and paid sick days (along with the ability to work remotely) can keep these working mothers in the workforce longer, thereby reducing the gender pay gap and allowing them to continue working in their careers—and earning higher wages.

It’s important for companies to recognize that the gender pay gap is not an issue that only affects female workers—it affects companies and even entire industries with a loss of true talent. By taking preventative measures and being mindful during the hiring process, you can help attract top talent and keep your working parents working. Particularly with flexible work options, not only can this strengthen companies, but it will also aid in closing the gender pay gap, once and for all.

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Readers, how important is it to you and your company to close the gender pay gap? What steps has your company taken to keep its working mothers on its team? Let us know in the comments below!

Photo credit: bigstockphoto.com

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