Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 12, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 9 Congratulations to Web Industries! blumshapiro proudly supports and applauds the contributions of Web Industries—an organization that strives to improve future generations. 781.982.1001 blumshapiro.com Massachusetts | Connecticut | Rhode Island Pay transparency won't narrow pay gaps F L AS H P O L L Would greater salary transparency serve to narrow racial and gender pay gaps? COMMENTS: In the U.S. women make 82 cents for every $1 a man makes, and Black people earn 26% less on average than white people. To help address these pay gaps, the Massachusetts Equal Pay Act in 2018 said employers couldn't retaliate against employees for disclosing their salaries to each other. Other employers take this a step further by making salaries public, including publishing salary grades, posting salary ranges on job listings, publishing their current wage gap or, in rarer cases, publishing each employee's salary. But for many, the idea of sharing what they're paid with their coworkers is uncomfortable, and some critics say it may decrease productivity or stoke resentments. When polled online, half of WBJ readers said these efforts won't result in smaller pay gaps, because other factors will account for professionals' differing salaries. "What percent of those no votes are white males?" Yes, as management would be incentivized to keep salaries more equitable. 26% 15% D I V E R S I T Y & I N C L U S I O N F O C U S Yes, transparency would help employees understand their value better. 9% Maybe, but it wouldn't be worth the uncomfortable workplace it would create. No, because people will always be paid differently for factors other than race or gender. 50% Pay gaps in Worcester by industry Female earnings Industry as percent of male Transportation, warehousing and utilities 46.4% Information 60.5% Arts, entertainment, recreation, accomodation and food services 70.3% Manufacturing 74.7% Construction 80.1% Retail trade 81.2% Wholesale trade 81.9% Educational services, and health care and social assistance 83.2% Public administration 83.9% Finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing 91.5% Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 5-Year American Community Survey, via the Worcester Regional Research Bureau's 2020 Worcester Almanac in many forms, such as simply posting a salary range with job listings, something none of Central Massachusetts' 10 larg- est employers currently do, according to current job boards. is may leave prospec- tive employees scrambling to crowdsource from websites like Glassdoor, which, although useful, may be unreliable. "At bare mini- mum, if we can't publish existing salaries … we should publish salary ranges," Clark said. Employees in a company or industry may take matters into their own hands, as media workers did in 2019 with the Real Media Salaries document, a Google spreadsheet active to this day. e document was created when media workers across the country anonymously submitted their salaries, experience, and demographic information in order to generate a clearer picture of compensation norms. An issue of racial justice Since George Floyd's killing by Min- neapolis police in May, Clark said, more employers are understanding workplace equity as not just a gender issue, but a racial justice issue. "is is now not just a moment," Clark said. "It's a movement." To that end, companies are establish- ing new positions aimed at protecting and promoting diversity and inclusion in their workplaces, she said, as for-prof- its and nonprofits are taking hard looks at who actually runs their companies. "ey're putting some real real meat behind it, and making sure that they are taking another look at not only their senior management, [but] the people in their organizations that are decision makers," Clark said. Still, it's early to say how effectively these changes will be implemented, and Clark hopes these companies aren't just checking a proverbial diversity box. It's not just about hiring a more diverse staff, but about setting those new staff mem- bers up for long-term success, including fair compensation. "If you value your employees and you want to retain your employees, you should be going out there doing market research relative to compensation and making sure that you're being equitable across the board," Clark said. Denella Clark, chair of the Mass. Commission on the Status of Women W

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