Equal Pay for Equal Work

In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, we are going to take a closer look at some of the most important issues related to gender equality in the workplace. We will be sharing best practices to inspire other companies seeking to improve themselves but also, we will be honest about how we, as Sievo, can do better. Each week during March, we are going to share blog posts about the following issues; 

• Equal pay 
• Lack of role models 
• Leadership opportunities 
• Workplace stereotypes 

Let's start with one of the most fundamental rights: equal pay for equal work. Unfortunately, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that gender pay equity won't be achieved until 2059 and this timeline is just not acceptable. We are already too late. We need to act now to ensure that everyone is being paid fairly for the work they do.

Another shocking statistic from the International Labour Organization shows that currently women are paid, on average, 20% less than men worldwide. 
 
To help address the situation, we've identified 4 areas where companies can take action. We also encourage individuals to pay attention to these aspects from their current or potential employers.

1. Make salary transparency a priority.

Last year at Sievo, we had a company-wide discussion about internal salary transparency and concluded that it aligns with our value of honesty to ensure that no one is being unfairly paid less for doing the same job. 

While we can't force everyone to share their salary, we've made it optional and have a process in place where 50% of our team needs to opt in before any data is published.

We still have areas for improvement in this matter. Over time, we've learned that ongoing communication and updates are important to raise awareness for the goal of this process and encourage people, especially newcomers, to share their salary for the sake of transparency. Plus, it is also an effective source of information for the salary discussions that everyone has with their managers at Sievo.

2. Do not reward overtime.  

Good work should not be measured by the number of hours worked. This can lead to a huge gender pay gap since women, due to the traditional view of gender roles, have been seen as caregivers and unpaid care work is still largely performed by women, which might limit their ability to take on overtime or irregular shifts.  

At Sievo, we don't praise or reward any overtime work. However, we understand that there may be times when overtime is necessary, so we try to compensate for those extra hours by offering flex time balance where they can take the same amount of time off.

3. Encourage salary negotiations during recruitment.

Women and other underrepresented groups are often hesitant to ask for higher salaries during the recruitment process due to imposter syndrome or other factors. During the recruitment process, we are open to negotiate and we also encourage candidates to check other resources to evaluate the market average for the position.  

Following the trends and the positive impact it creates, we are currently considering sharing salary ranges on the job descriptions for our well-established roles as well.  

4. Prioritize skills over experience 

Unfortunately, gender discrimination might start early in life, and not everyone might have access to the same resources. That is why, during our recruitment process, we pay more attention to what skills our candidates can bring and how much potential they have rather than where they graduated from or how long they've been working. We recognize that women may take breaks from employment to care for their families or face other obstacles that affect their career trajectory. By prioritizing skills over experience, we can reduce the impact of these factors on hiring and compensation decisions.  
 
It's frustrating that we still must fight for equal pay in 2023, but let's not let our own optimistic bubble misguide us. We need to act, as individuals and companies, to make gender equality a reality in the workplace around the world till everyone gets paid what they deserve.