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Tom Ryan, Office of Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
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Think you might be paid less than your co-workers who do the same job? Looking for a new job on account of it? In situations such as these, says a management expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago, race and sex matter.
Studies by Maryann Albrecht, associate professor of management at UIC, found that workers' gender and race figure heavily "when you want to explain why a person feels -- or even knows -- he or she might be paid more than, the same as or less than others in the same job in the same organization."
Albrecht surveyed employees drawn from a population of more than 1,000 professional and nearly 3,000 support staff at a large service organization. In general, she found, men of color and women of all races perceive they are paid less than people who do the same work at the same company.
What do they do about it? Albrecht says minorities and women are more likely than whites and men, respectively, to look outside their current employer for a new job that pays better. White workers and men, on the other hand, are more likely to ask the boss for a raise.
"Knowing a person's belief about salary equity, their race and gender and their job position allows you to predict 80 percent of those who will be looking for a new job," Albrecht says. "That's true regardless of how long they've been working or even their expected pay.
"The fact that these factors can predict who is likely to search actively for a new job is startling because it implies companies can lose people based on perceptions that may or may not be true."
Looking at workers in two categories -- job-seekers and those who are not looking -- Albrecht found that among men, 31 percent felt they were being paid less than others for doing the same work at the same organization. Sixty-eight percent were looking for new jobs, while 32 percent were not.
Among women, slightly more than 43 percent believed they were being paid less than others with the same job. Seventy-three percent were looking for new jobs, 26 percent were not.
"If there is a perception of pay disparity, women when compared with men are more likely to look for a new position," Albrecht says.
She found that among men, more than 43 percent of Asians and more than 55 percent of Latinos believed they were paid less than others in the same position. Among African-American men, just under 40 percent thought they were paid less. Forty-one percent of African-American women felt the same way. Meanwhile, only 34 percent of whites felt they were paid less than someone else in the same organization doing the same job. Salary is paramount, Albrecht says, because all employees received the same benefits.
Why do women respond to issues of pay parity so much more strongly than, say, African-American men? The reasons are complex, Albrecht says, but she believes male bonding may be involved.
"Black males in professional positions will get 90 percent of the pay of white males, but once they're in, they're treated as males," she says.
"Males understand, because they've modeled more on other men. And because they're more likely to know what's available and what salaries are out there in other occupations, they know what to ask.
"Many women don't realize they need to be aggressive about salary."
Women tend to expect to be rewarded for good effort and for achieving good results, and aren't socialized, as Albrecht puts it, "to pound on the desk and demand a raise."
Because of the disparities in pay -- real or perceived -- minorities and women are more likely to look elsewhere for a job that pays better, and black women are more likely to look than black men. "This is an important consideration for those companies that want to hire and keep minorities," Albrecht says.
She identifies several possible solutions: One is for organizations to run confidential hotlines so workers who are dissatisfied and have complaints can call and find out the salary range for their position and rank. A second, very expensive tool is to conduct a wage survey every year to provide top management with a clear picture of who's getting paid what, so they can ensure that white males don't lead the pack.
"Some firms go to merit pay, and they find that women and minorities are still paid in lower amounts," Albrecht says. "They get smaller merit increases, and the problem is usually that there aren't any companywide objective criteria enforced."
In her UIC management classes, Albrecht uses exercises to teach minority and female students to negotiate effectively -- and to instruct white male students in the art of compromise. The results are sometimes surprising. She says minority and women-led teams will bring the exercise to a halt rather than let white males have it all, an outcome that often surprises the white males.
Albrecht has collected the exercises, as well as cases and web resources, in a book, "Cultural Diversity: Cases, Exercises and Resources" (Stipes Publishing, 1997). "When I tell males about my findings, they are frequently surprised," Albrecht says. "So you can see why I wrote the book."
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