FAMILY “RAISING PHASE” Growth Chapter: PAY EQUITY
Unconscious bias around both gender as well as caregiving status can negatively affect compensation for working parents. It has been repeatedly proven that mothers are paid less than childless women, and this is referred to as the ‘motherhood penalty’ – whereas fathers earn higher wages than childless men, creating a positive ‘fatherhood bonus.’
Challenge
• Full-time working moms made only 73.5 cents on the dollar compared to full-time working fathers, per IWPR 2023 Fact Sheet. • Moms were recommended 8-16% lower salaries than other employee types in a blind resume study, per Harvard Gender Action Portal. • Per 2018 Equity by Design survey , “both male and female primary caregivers earned less than the average salary for all respondents at every level of experience,” demonstrating a caregiver bias.
Importance
GOOD
BETTER
BEST
Establish formal compensation program with set pay ranges based on title, experience level, and other relevant factors Benchmark firm compensation against industry standard reports and salary survey data to ensure employees are compensated fairly
Create structure for staff pay increases tied to performance evaluation and results, rather than leaving to leadership discretion Conduct internal parity reviews at 6- month intervals, and adjust out-of-range salaries without waiting for employees to ask for a raise
Create pay transparency by allowing employees visibility into established compensation program and pay ranges Eliminate ‘buy - in’ model to leadership and ownership, as personal family finances may be tighter during this stage of life
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Antidotes
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Don’t forget the legal implications: multiple states have passed wage transparency laws that require salary range to be inclu ded with every job posting. However, many firms use an especially large salary range to maintain the secrecy around compensation structure. Knowledge of salary ranges and other compensation factors is often limited to a select leadership group (i.e. not publicly available to non-employees). Further discussion needed to identify those companies that are innovating in this category and leading the way.
Leading Firms
Read more: • Institute for Women’s Policy Research “ Fact Sheet ” dated August 2023 • NY Times article “ The Motherhood Penalty vs. the Fatherhood Bonus ” dated 9/6/2014 • AIA Guides for Equitable Practice “ Chapter 3: Compensation ”
Additional Resources
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