Worcester Business Journal Special Editions

Worcester Business Journal 37 For more info and to register: www.wbjournal.com/diversity WBJ WEBCAST SERIES WBJ WEBCAST FORUMS WBJ WEBCAST FORUMS WBJ WEBCAST FORUMS WBJ WEBCAST SERIES A WBJ WEBCAST SERIES A With the national sea change of the last few months, business leaders are increasingly seeing that cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce is not just the right thing to do, but also the smart thing to do for the future of their organization. Please join us for this special webcast in which we'll explore specific steps that large and small organizations can make to further promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Webcast Sponsors: Building a better business through Diversity and Inclusion WBJ WEBCAST SPECIAL FORUM 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% 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 Under the law, potential employers may not ask prospective employees what they earned in their previous job, nor may they prohibit employees from discussing their wages or retaliate against them for doing so. Yet, even two years aer that law's passage, women don't completely un- derstand what the law allows for and what it protects, said Denella Clark, the chair of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, who campaigned for the law's passage and is the first woman of color to lead the organization. "ere needs to be much more education with employers and [human resource] professionals … [on] account- ability, but then also on the employee," Clark said. In practice, salary transparency comes in many forms, such as simply posting a salary range with job listings, something none of Central Massachu- setts' 10 largest employers currently do, according to current job boards. is may leave prospective employees scrambling to crowdsource from web- sites like Glassdoor, which, although useful, may be unreliable. "At bare minimum, 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-profits 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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