Salary secrecy is fuelling the gender pay gap, so how can we make employers more open about money and hold them to account this Equal Pay Day?

Today (Thursday 18 November 2021) is Equal Pay Day, which basically signifies the day in the year that women effectively stop earning, compared to their male counterparts. Yep, we’re pretty much working for free till Christmas. 

Of course, the truth is a little more nuanced than that; after all, our pay checks will (hopefully) keep coming in. It’s just that – on average – they’ll be a bit thinner than the ones received by men. Equal Pay Day is a campaign launched by The Fawcett Society, which aims to raise awareness of the gender pay gap, which they define as “the difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population.”

In 2017, The Fawcett Society published their findings that the gender pay gap is “shaped by racial inequality,” with the report identifying the “lack of minority ethnic women in management or leadership roles” as a “major contributor” to the gender pay gap. 

In a report released today, Glassdoor have identified that half of women in the workplace don’t feel confident enough to ask for a pay rise, and are 26% less likely than men to ask for an increase in the next year.

This is compounded by the findings that “only one in four workers feel strongly that their employer is transparent about pay despite transparency being vital for employee satisfaction,” while “one in two workers believe their workplace needs to do more to close the gender pay gap.”

While the responsibility to close the gender pay gap should lie with employers, it’s important that women (and everyone else, TBH) should feel empowered to have frank discussions about their salary.

In a statement, Fiona Hathorn, the CEO of Women on Boards UK, said “We know that simply asking for a pay rise in the right way will not fix decades of inequality or begin to address the systemic and structural barriers surround equal pay, but we also know that women have been socialised to be uncomfortable, hesitant and even apologetic when negotiating salary.”

Fiona also provided some tips for asking for an equal pay salary increase:

Negotiate your starting salary. This is often overlooked but if you negotiate a higher salary from the get-go, it can make a dramatic difference over the course of your career. In the book Women Don’t Ask it’s revealed that about 7% of women attempt to negotiate a starting salary, compared to 57% of men. However, don’t negotiate for negotiation’s sake, make sure you come prepared and ready to explain your value and why you deserve a higher salary than advertised. 

Know your worth. Understand the competitive salary for your company and your industry. Websites and platforms such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn are a great tool for this but also ask recruiters and even friends, peers, and family to validate your research. 

Build your business case. You need to learn how to advocate for yourself and how to demonstrate your value. One way of doing this is to ensure you are consistently recording your achievements – and making them known. Keep a record or an email folder of all the extra projects you have done, examples of when you have gone above and beyond, positive feedback from clients and peers. Then identify appropriate opportunities and channels to highlight your own contribution to your boss and wider stakeholders, both throughout the year and when negotiating pay.

Highlight potential, not just performance. It’s widely acknowledged that men are judged on potential while women are judged more on past performance. To help overcome this it’s vital that you lay out your contributions but also focus on talking about what you will be tackling next. 

Gain strategic leadership experience.  Seniority is a huge part of pay, and demonstrating you are a strategic leader is key to getting a promotion to those senior roles. It can be hard to get the opportunities in a large company, but Women on Boards is clear that you’re never too young to start considering your first board role. Start positioning yourself to fill boards seats at your local sports club, school or charity as early as possible in your career as it’s proven to be great for career acceleration in the long-term and will help you to stand apart from any internal competition. 

Practice! As women asking for more can feel out of our comfort zone, so make sure you practice. Get feedback from friends and family so you feel your most confident self. Pay attention to your tone of voice and don’t use tentative language. Instead of “I was thinking of a 5% pay rise”, say “my proposal is 5% and this is why.”  Resist the urge to fill the silence! 

For more from Glamour UK’s Lucy Morgan, follow her on Instagram @lucyalexxandra.