Women CEOs accept larger pay-cuts
Natalee Roan
May 27th, 2010Total realized pay among CEOs declined by 18.5 percent for women and 6.1 percent for men in 2008. On average, women CEOs earned 58 percent of what male CEOs earned in realized compensation last year, according to Corporate Library in a recently released study as reported by Biz Journals.
The research also found that male CEO bonuses were 3.5 times larger than those doled out to female CEOs, on average. In addition, male "perk" packages averaged twice as large as the perk packages of female CEOs. Even as women reach higher status within the corporate ranks, is is clear that even at the top we are failing to negotiate as well as our male peers.
Interestingly, the study found that women CEOs had a higher median starting salary, implying that women tend to avoid more lucrative bonuses in favor of a stable lower total income. These numbers suggest that by not being more willing to share risk, we're losing out BIG TIME. It appears that we think we've done a superb job in negotiating - but we're focusing mostly on our bases with too little attention paid to the overall package which could be up to 3 times higher. The result is that during this recession our bases are being cut AND we're losing out on bonus opportunities - a double-whammy.
What you should do:
Understand that in this climate companies are trying their best to cut fixed costs like salaries. If you're asked to take a pay-cut, make sure you negotiate a bonus that is paid upon meeting specific objectives so that you're able to make up for the salary cut if you perform AND be well-compensated for the additional risk. How much higher? Many women negotiate bonuses that get them only a small percentage above their pay. I've talked to women who are proud that their bonus potential can take them to 150% of their salaries. Meanwhile, their male counterparts are negotiating bonuses with the potential to take them to 350% - and I doubt very much their target numbers are much greater than what women would ask for. So clearly we have a lot of ground to make up in how we negotiate for bonuses and perks.
If you're going through a renegotiation, here's where an executive coach can be extremely beneficial. In speaking to some coaches, I'm told that their ratio of male clients to female clients is 2 to 1! If you're interested, I've got a line on some great coaches - email me at natalee@vjournal.com for more info. Though we're certainly capable of solid negotiation strategies, we're not asking for all we deserve or pushing hard enough to get them - To change this, the first step is education.
Good Karma comes to those who share - please share this with your friends and help them earn what they're worth.
This is true that number of
This is true that number of women in the power positions has increased significantly in the past few years. Still the fact remains that the gender bias is real in our society and in the work places. One experiences it in many forms. A woman has to work atleast twice harder as compared to her male counterpart, if not more, to achieve any goal in the corporate world. It starts with beating the visual perception to having to prove at every step with her actions whereas males do not have to deal with the perceptual biases to start with.I just attended an entrepreneurial summit where the percentage of women attendees and speakers was not more than 15%. This too in India where we claim that women have arrived. I dont know whether it was the non availability of women in those spaces or plain simple natural focus on male speakers that led to this. However, it was also perhaps a coincidence that organizing committe also had all men, while women volunteers were at junior positions. The question is who is responsible for this and who has to change this. The onus lies with women to take charge and get in touch with and enhance their self worth. We need to raise the collective conscience of the entire global community and for that we need to start with believing in ourselves.
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