I’m going to throw out three buzzwords and I want you to be honest.
Diversity
Equity
Inclusion
Also known as” DEI”. Are you sick and tired of hearing them? Are they just background static in today’s business and corporate climate? Do you hear any of those words and reflexively think, “Here comes more Politically Correct BS?”
Whenever I hear those words, I flinch a little – afraid to hope that DEI implementation will truly herald positive changes, and simultaneously bracing myself for the inevitable disappointment (and predictable outcome) of no real positive change. I know I am not alone in my frustration; I’ve had a LOT of conversations lately with women from various companies and a variety of industries. The issues we’ve all experienced are what prompted this post. Over the last several years, I’ve read an increasing number of articles heralding the vast sums of money invested in DEI programs, but I have NOT seen much change. (Am I looking in the wrong place?) I know change takes time, but I also know that we often make things harder than they need to be.
I want to help. I’m going to make it EASY for corporate America and businesses everywhere to incorporate the ‘E’ of the above noted DEI into their corporate culture. Consider this:
EQUITY
Most companies have some type of semi-formulaic system when it comes to titles and pay scales. Some call them tiers, but they are also known as grades, ranges, categories, etc. In some companies, salaries may be determined based on the job title (e.g. associate, senior associate, specialist, officer, manager, etc.)
Unfortunately, while two employees may have the same or similar level of experience and performance, their pay may be wildly disparate. The party being short-changed (literally!) is usually female and/or a minority. This is FACT, not fiction.
I repeat: Statistically speaking, when there is disparity of salary among colleagues of equal experience, it is women and/or minorities who come out on the losing end. If you doubt the veracity of that statement or think the gap is minuscule, I encourage you to read these links, become informed and then commit to being part of the solution:
- AAUW (American Association of University women), (updated 03/24/2020)
- Center for American Progress
- The New York Times (03/24/2021)
- Forbes (05/21/2021)
- US Department of Labor (03/29/2021)
- The Business Insider (03/24/2021)
If employees within the same “category” ever openly discussed their salary and compensation packages with each other, it’s a fair bet that a lot of women and minorities are going to be furious and/or horrified and/or devastated (but not necessarily surprised) by the disparity in income for comparable positions and responsibilities.
And it’s not just a gender/minority problem. Disparity of pay is often found between long-tenured employees and those who have either been recently recruited or been with the organization for only a short time.
While fresh perspectives and new ideas from “new blood” may benefit an organization, the institutional knowledge of a tenured employee can be a critical component to a company’s success and should not be dismissed.
My proposed solution is not a catch-all that will remedy years (decades?) of inequity, and I recognize that there are certainly going to be nuances, but here is an easy solution to begin leveling the playing field – start with equity in salaries.
Put your HR and Payroll folks together and ensure there is equity in salaries and compensation for employees of equal grade/range/category who have similar responsibilities and skillsets. In addition, tenure should play a role in compensation as well. The employees who have been loyal to your company should not be denigrated with a salary that is lower than a new hire who has not yet proven their value to your organization.
If you doubt that making a similar financial investment in your employees will improve revenue, retention, morale and a host of other employee relation issues, spend some time doing research into Gravity Payments and its CEO, Dan Price. Price made headlines back in 2015 with his unorthodox salary changes. He was called a socialist (among other things) and told his business would fail. Just the opposite happened.
If you don’t know who he is or what he did, a quick google search of ‘Dan Price Gravity Payments’ will bring up close to a dozen links- some rosy and some rotten. Here is the link to his company website that tells the story (from his perspective). And here is the link to an article from Inc.com from 2015.
(Equally insightful is the fact that he regularly gets hate mail and death threats and is shunned by some business leaders as a result of the increased success of his company as a direct result of the salary increases he instituted.)
Nothing I am saying is new information, so why are we still talking about it? It’s time to stop just talking about change, and actually change things, instead.
Corporate America, put your money where your mouth is.
As I was putting the finishing touches on this post, I came across this great article. It’s a good, quick read about DEI in the workplace. Check it out!
