Did Your Organization Recognize Equal Pay Day?

Last week, on Tuesday, March 14th, we had another Equal Pay Day come and go. Did your company recognize it? And, if so, did you learn how your organization is contributing to the goal of Equal Pay? 

It’s startling to understand that women must work for 15 months to earn what a man earns in 12. This decades long trend seems to holdfast, regardless of these notable changes: 

• More women now graduate from college than men. 

• More women graduate from law school than men. 

• Med school graduates are nearly half women. 

…the list goes on… 

Why does this trend of unequal pay, regardless of education and merit persist? Chauvinism and unconscious bias contribute (and point to just how important a work culture is) but an economist at Cornell University who has been studying the gender pay gap for longer than the Gen Z population has been alive, says one of the biggest factors here is childcare. 

This is not dissimilar from what I discovered in my research during the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue of inequity is directly linked to responsibility. When the responsibility of children is placed primarily on women (both because of biology and antiquated male-focused systems) is it any wonder that women are left earning less? Despite the “women can do it all” mindset, things must change in the home if we want to see them change at work.  [And while women can “do it all” and often manage to do so, it takes a toll. And, quite frankly, this ideology is ill-advised considering that the answer, in part, is as easy as a division of labor.] 

According to a recent study done by LinkedIn, women hold 32 percent of leadership positions worldwide. The recurring theme, is and will continue to be, a mismatch between education and competence, paired against earnings and title. 

While there is a myriad of resources to support women (I’ve crafted some myself) it should not be left to women alone to advocate for themselves. I am of the firm belief that organizations must step up to help bridge both the pay gap, the leadership variance (status and title), and the resources provided to parents in order for change to be reached. My research findings vehemently support this, too. 

What might be just one way your organization can work toward equal pay? Annual salary audits are highly encouraged, as is a program to ensure appropriate re-entry for women after maternity leave. Further, intentional promotional pools are essential. (Remember: Those who are up for promotion are more likely to get a higher salary. What does this pool look like? Is it contributing to unequal pay?) 

A lot can be accomplished in a year’s time. Set your intentions on how your company* will support women and Equal Pay Day for 2024. 

*If it’s not your company, never fear! Get this article to your HR, People, or L&D team leads.

People Management Strategy: A Tip

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Last quarter I wrote about increasing performance by improving team engagement. Assessing engagement levels, or lack thereof can help organizational leaders diagnose cultural challenges and implement solutions. 

What is interesting about leadership consulting is clients often seek advice and support when there is emerging dissonance – whether interdepartmentally or at the individual level – or akin to the example of when performance is suffering. And this is what I want to focus on today: A tip on how to be proactive in your people management strategy. 

Whether you are unsure where to begin with your people operations or are already aware of some issues needing resolve, I want you to think about managing people (and crafting or maintaining a company culture) as a constant. It is not ripping off a bandaid nor is it a checkbox on your to-do list. Sorry, people are complex! And that complexity includes an array of considerations – not only personal circumstances, but professional demands, social tensions, political unrest, and the like. This gestalt view is a helpful way to see the world; the ebbs and flows of life will remain regardless of a team win or losing an at risk client. It is part of everyday life. 

Thus, when determining or refining a people operations strategy, look for a solution that is comprehensive and less segmented, e.g., “one-and-done training.” For example, while unconscious bias training is of utmost relevance and is a mainstay for DEI programming, I argue that this should not be a stand-alone program. Instead, it should be baked into the coaching curriculum for management education. It’s not an add-on but rather an integral part of managing. If we want to build inclusive workplaces, the subject matter of inclusion must be fundamental, not additional.  

If I think about any large group presentation I’ve ever attended, I will be the first to admit that I must take notes. Otherwise, I tune out. Adults have an average attention span of 8.25 seconds – yikes! While I won’t pick apart why our attention spans are decreasing, I will make this point: If we are sitting for a 60-minute training, it better be compelling. But what happens when it’s not? It is a missed opportunity for learning.

This is why incorporating fundamental concepts into regular discourse is more effective. A person engaged in 1:1 conversation is significantly more likely to stay focused than when he is one of many in the crowd, thanks to decreased distractions and stimulation — and this is why I include inclusion education in all of my management coaching. It’s simply foundational and will not only improve psychological safety (a factor to increasing engagement) but will be a more cost-effective, and proactive, approach to learning and development within the business. 

Get in touch to learn how I can help your team.

Need to Drive Performance? Check Engagement.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Research shows that the key factor in promoting higher performance is engagement. It’s not employee satisfaction or even commitment to the job. Thus, it is critical that people (and notably managers) develop a clear understanding of what engagement is and is not for their team members.

Why might this exercise of identifying strategies to increase engagement be worthwhile? Well, in companies where ~65 percent of employees are engaged, shareholder returns are approximately 24 percent. Compare that to companies with only ~55 percent engagement: Shareholder returns are as low as 5 percent! What’s more, teams with high engagement experience less than a third of turnover compared to those not engaged.

Engagement is a commonly used term and it is often times conceptualized in much the same way as other employee attitudes (such as satisfaction and commitment). While engagement is related to these attitudes, it is distinct. Rather than defining the terms, let’s consider what it looks like. 

People who are engaged are absorbed in their work – both physically and mentally. In fact, engagement is something you can see in people – it is visible in the form of high levels of effort, involvement, and even mindfulness. An engaged individual is often energized by their work and difficult to distract. These individuals value and identify with the work they are doing (so much so the work might not even feel like work). They are slow to discourage by obstacles (in fact, they thrive on solving problems), and they sincerely care that things go well. 

Now that we know what it looks like, and we know that it’s a silver bullet for company performance (if you are interested in more data justification, drop me a note), how do we actually increase engagement? 

There are three drivers of engagement. These include Psychological Meaningfulness, Psychological Safety, and Psychological Availability. 

The first dimension is called Psychological Meaningfulness and this is having a reason to engage. This has much to do with the characteristics of one's job; it is essential that positions are structured to include “high motivating potential.” Jobs that have high motivating potential tend to be challenging and allow space for both autonomy and impact. 

The second dimension is called Psychological Safety. While intuitive, this has to do with whether or not people experience the freedom and the safety to engage in their work rather than feeling like they have to protect themselves in some way. (Have you ever felt like you couldn’t dare speak up with a suggestion to do something differently? Yeah, you’ve experienced a situation without complete psychological safety). 

The third dimension is Psychological Availability. This has to do with the capacity to engage. “Do I have what it takes to engage fully in my job?” This is much more circumstantial for the individual. Take a person’s physical energy, for example. If there is a poor balance between work and home, renewal is hard to come by and that will undoubtedly put a strain on the job (think burnout). The other facet of this third dimension is a person's confidence in their ability to do the job. In order for people to be really engaged in their work, they have to feel confident that if they invest themselves in their work, they're likely to succeed. And this is why reskilling, continual training, and developmental opportunities and feedback are essential. 

In Brief: 

1. Psychological Meaningfulness: Having a reason to engage

2. Psychological Safety: Having the freedom and safety to engage

3. Psychological Availability: having the capacity to engage (and support to do so)

These dimensions have a great deal of nuance and if you are presently experiencing an engagement crisis you are not alone. Many companies are facing a heightened challenge with engagement after well over two years of employees managing heightened emotional and physical stressors. If this is the case for your group, contact me.

Bear in mind there is also a significant amount of reading you can do on the topic of employee engagement if you prefer a self-study approach. Thanks to the seminal research of William Kahn who crafted the Work Engagement Theory and is also considered the Father of Employee Engagement, there is much to be gleaned from his work on how to increase not only company performance and employee retention, but will also improve the health and well-being of your employees. 

Too Busy to Be a Good Manager? Time to Reset.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Feeling mentally and physically drained as a manager of people? You’re not alone. Managers everywhere are grappling to keep up. Flexibility, empathy, consistency, and intentional leading takes energy. Thus, it’s no wonder many managers struggled during the pandemic’s peak which has flowed over into the present day.

How does one know what to say, or what to do when faced with circumstances never seen before? How a manager behaves is a pretty basic leadership style trait: There are people who are relationship-centric, and there are people who are task-centric. Both profiles are easily identifiable among managers – and from your own personal experiences, I’m sure you’re thinking of a manager who tended to lean one way or another. When managers are under stress which is compounded by “the unknowns” it can be easy to resort to what is most comfortable, regardless of what is best for the team. 

If you are a manager reading this, it’s probable you were trying to keep your head above water in the past year and a half. You may have become overly invested in personal experiences that ended up hurting productivity, or you may have compartmentalized other peoples’ issues as a concern that was not your own.  Perhaps now is the ideal moment to reflect upon what could be done better across the spectrum and how you can prepare for crises. Evaluate the current atmosphere and team dynamics to make up for the damage done or for the missed opportunities.

First, slow it down.

I get it, easier said than done. But the nation is catching up to this whole “people matter and we better invest in them” thing, so it is your job to take the steps needed to ensure the vitality and successes of your workgroup.

What helps slow things down, you may ask? Emotional regulation. How are you feeling, why are you feeling that way? Are you quick to react under stress, or do you reflect and respond? Impulsive decision-making – what I like to call “hectic direction” – will only cause uncertainty and concern among team members. Being thoughtful and poised is not to be confused with being slow. Steady yourself with deep breathing, fair turnaround time, and clear expectations about what can and cannot be done within predefined time frames.

Second, reignite feedback.

Whether your corporation provides formal reviews or not, you should be giving your team members regular, quarterly reviews. Work with your team members to set goals, output, timelines, and reasonable expectations about what a person can count on with upward mobility, pay, flexibility, or career pathing. Do you spend time with your team members individually? What are you doing to ensure their psychological safety? Listening is the first step to establishing trust and with trust, candid conversation and better performance will follow.

This is a great summer exercise to employ prior to the frenzy of back to school and the decrease in summer vacationing.