INNOVATION January-February 2015

f ea t u r e s

How Much Are You Worth? Salary Negotiation for the Woman Professional

Dr. Elizabeth Croft, P.Eng., FEC; Rebekah Parker; Jennifer Pelletier

Salary negotiation is intimidating, and can be a particular challenge in professions where there are many unique qualifications and requirements. Employers face the task of finding an employee who is a good fit for their organization, and new employees seek a job package that supports their goals and lifestyle. A successful hire requires a strong pool of candidates, careful consideration free of bias, and fair negotiation of a starting salary. In engineering and science fields, women have traditionally faced additional challenges in this process, and there are still gender-based differences in compensation.

Women are 50% more likely to advance in an orchestra audition if they can’t be seen.

Salary negotiation can reduce this gap. What to Know as an Employer Implicit Biases

Science professionals like to believe all of their decisions are unbiased, but in reality, we all have implicit biases. Implicit bias refers to the assumptions and conclusions we jump to with- out thinking. Our implicit biases can directly contradict what we actively state we value. They have a significant impact on how we judge others and the decisions we make. The sway of our implicit biases were made clear in a recent study. 1 Professors were asked to evaluate a candidate for a lab manager job. Male candidates were consistently offered the job more often, at higher salaries, despite the CVs being identical. The first step to avoiding implicit biases in your hiring is to be aware they exist, and to be aware of what your personal biases are (implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/is a free tool you can use to become more aware of your biases).

Goldin, C. & Rouse, C. (2000). “Orchestrating impartiality: The impact of “blind” auditions on female musicians.”

1.Moss-Racusin,C.et al.(2012).“Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students.”

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