Negotiating opportunities correlate strongly with the wage setting mechanism which can impact the gender pay gap (GPG). Every pay increment or promotion is based on a person’s current earnings. If a woman consistently forfeits a negotiating opportunity and a male takes advantage of the negotiating table, the pay gap continues to widen.
Where does assertiveness come into the picture?
The power theory suggests that in order to be in a position of power during a negotiation, a person must be assertive. (Antullah, 2010). Unfortunately, women tend to not negotiate at all and when they do, being assertive is an extra challenge. Let’s dive in…
- Women are more inclined to reluctantly accept an offer rather than negotiate. (Kaman & Hartel, 1994)
- A woman being assertive can often be perceived negatively by an organisation or by colleagues. Some women have been labeled as being self-centered, stubborn and even too aggressive. (Heilman, 2007)
- Research has shown that women tended to interpret assertive women in a more negative way than men. (Mathison, 1986)
To digest that further; women are less likely to negotiate, when they do opt to negotiate, the power theory suggests they are at a disadvantage due to a general lack of assertiveness, when women are assertive they can be misinterpreted as being aggressive and not just by men, but even more by women. Not ideal.
“Some” of the research:
A huge amount of research was completed at the secondary level (literature review). This was compared to the primary research which included interviews with several women working in the Tech industry. Their levels spanned from junior Software Engineers and Analysts to Management and Director level. A small portion of the analysis can be seen below where a statement from the literature review (secondary research) was compared to actual findings from those interviewed (primary research).
Secondary research:
It has become apparent that women are less likely to negotiate for a better financial package when interviewing for a job, internal or external.
Primary research comment:
“I didn’t want to negotiate much because it looked like a good payment for me. I didn’t want to give myself more pressure.”
Secondary research:
(Kaman & Hartel, 1994) noticed that women are more inclined to reluctantly accept an offer rather than negotiate.
Primary research comment:
“No, No, I never negotiated before I accepted a job offer in my life. I have four or five jobs and each time I was happy to join.”
The most surprising discovery was that just one of these women opted to negotiate and just on one occasion in her career to date. A common response to not negotiating was that “the offer looked good”. This makes sense but, did it look good compared to current earnings or to the market rate? This is why negotiating is important, which leads nicely onto what a company can do internally to mitigate this assertive predicament for most professional women.
What actions can we take today to make a difference?
We know assertiveness is a contributing factor to female candidates not negotiating. What can we do to remove this blocker? The answer is in educating and raising awareness.
- Educate hiring managers, recruiters, TA, HR and other decision makers on what female candidates may be experiencing at the offer stage of the hiring process. Agree and implement a type of SLA for this scenario while also empowering the person responsible for making the offer to act accordingly.
- Go to market with a fair and competitive salary in mind. If you offer a candidate who meets the bar for your organisation, pay them fairly rather than comparing to their current earnings. FYI, this is a major step toward improving your retention figures.
- For all you female professionals; know your worth and know the market rates for your discipline. You can get this from agency based salary guides or talk to a recruiter you trust. Better yet, talk to me 🙂
Please note, this information is not opinion based, this is all research. As always, reach out with any questions you have and follow hirewise.ie for more content.
Next up, how female professional’s Career Aspirations impact negotiating.
