Sisters need to do it for themselves

By ANGELA McCARTHY

Picture two managers employed in the same role and achieving equal targets. During a performance review the man asks directly for a pay rise. The woman doesn't ask, but expects or hopes her employer will acknowledge her excellent performance and give her one. He gets a rise, she doesn't.

Or a job selection, with applicants told the starting salary is non-negotiable. The woman accepts it as a fact, the man pushes for a higher rate anyway.

In 2001, Statistics New Zealand's Income Survey found women on average earned 85 per cent of the average man's hourly earnings ($14.93 an hour compared with $17.71).

Why do women typically not ask for what they want, and what they're worth, when negotiating pay? One reason, says University of Auckland Equal Employment Opportunities manager Prue Toft, is that they tend to be risk adverse, so they're more passive in their negotiating approach.

"They tend to not want to take chances where there is likely to be a problem or where things might fail."

And when they do fail, they take it more personally than men. Indeed women have to learn to separate emotion from the issue of pay so they can clearly state their case, declares Jan Alley, human resources and training consultant.

"They need to point out: 'This is the job I'm doing, this is what I'm achieving and I think I'm hard working and need more money'."

Yet many women feel they shouldn't have to blow their own horn to get noticed and rewarded financially. "It feels like skiting and employers should already know," says Alley.

But doing a good job is not necessarily going to bring a pay rise, as Higbee-Schaffler remuneration consultant Kira Schaffler points out.

"As a generalisation, women go into roles expecting to do a good job but forget to say at the onset, 'I'm going to do a good job and so I want to negotiate salary review in six months time'."

This is particularly important with women returning to the workforce after a career break, she says. Often they end up in identical roles to people on much higher salaries who have been in the job for years but are not necessarily performing highly.

Schaffler says the biggest parity problem occurs at the middle level of employment. Senior women are closest to pay parity while at the bottom level collective agreements help to knock back inconsistencies.

June McCabe, Westpac New Zealand corporate affairs director, is co-author of Woman2Woman, a book full of advice and ideas from 70 New Zealand businesswomen. She lists a lack of self confidence and ignorance of the process as major obstacles for women negotiating pay.

Whether you're after a rise or are negotiating pay for a new job, it is essential you know your worth, says McCabe.

"Women frequently underplay that, responding with comments such as 'whatever you think'. Find out market rates for a similar position. This becomes an important negotiating tool because you can then say you know the industry is currently paying this amount."

You also have the right to ask the manager how the range of pay for the job is determined, and what that range is, says Schaffler, and a manager has to be able to substantiate this.

McCabe points out you're at your most powerful when offered a job. "Your prospective employer has invested time and money into the hiring process and made you an offer. Many women think the only choice is to accept or decline. Most men know this is the time to negotiate."

Such proactive approaches can feel out of character, if not downright scary, for some women. But why stay disadvantaged when you can easily learn negotiation skills?

The University of Auckland's Centre for Professional Development provides training on negotiation and assertiveness skills so women can learn how to deal with situations that don't normally sit comfortably with them. It also has a women in leadership programme, which includes one-on-one mentoring.

Alley, who runs negotiation workshops for the Institute of Management, says a useful negotiation technique is to study your manager's behaviour style, listening to what they value and talk about, then adapting your approach to that.

For example, "earth" managers want results and achievements, "air" managers are after details and processes "fire" managers want to know about the profile you've achieved, while "water" managers are interested in loyalty and valuing of customers.

Also be aware of your contractual rights. By working out how remuneration policy and processes work you arm yourself well, says Institute of Management president Kevin Gaunt.

"For example, if you understand the job evaluation structure and salary structures within your organisation and how they are applied you will be streets ahead of most managers. The HR Institute of New Zealand runs excellent courses that help people gain this basic understanding."

Okay so women need to improve their negotiating skills and build up their savvy about employment rights. But how level is the playing field? Where is the equity in an employer paying more to one employee than the other simply because one is a better negotiator? Is that not discriminatory?

Around 80 per cent of remuneration issues aren't about pay but communication, reckons Schaffler, who says many discrepancies arise because employers are reactive instead of proactive, responding to demands in the heat of the moment.

"But if the company has robust recruitment systems in place and has transparency, the manager will be in much better position to say, 'Let me take you back through how we make our remuneration decisions; there is a salary review in March and I'll look at it then, taking your comments into consideration'."

Problem is, says Schaffler, New Zealand employers are not yet required to prove their pay systems are fair and free of gender bias.

It needs to be a two-way process, says Toft. "Employers need to make sure they have inclusive processes and women employees need to understand the processes and perform at their best within them."

Ideally, a company should evaluate the value and worth of a job and what should be paid for that role, says Alley. "So the evaluation looks at areas like the number of direct reports, budget accountability, level of responsibility or risk. It is about the position, not the person."

Jan Alley's negotiating tips

* Know your starting point and your bottom line. Be prepared to walk away if you must.

* Think through possible concessions. Maybe a change in title or a study allowance is more important than money.

* Do your homework - find out what your equivalent job is worth elsewhere.

* Prepare information for your case - extra responsibilities, money or time you've saved the company.

* State your first expectation, explore their position by asking questions and identify where they are prepared to make concessions.

* Use probing techniques such as: "If I did ... then would you be able to ..?"

* Always focus on mutual benefits: "I love my job and am committed to this company, but I'm concerned I'm falling behind financially when this information shows what I could be earning. Can we look at some way of closing the gap?" Don't back yourself into a corner by stating that you'll leave if you don't get what you want.

* Learn from the experience. What went well? Was it a win/win result? What could you have done differently? What would you change next time?