Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | February 8, 2021 | wbjournal.com F O C U S W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P The Central Mass. executive pay gap WBJ examined the compensation for 273 executives in Central Massachusetts to see the difference between men's and women's pay. Top three highest paid: Ed Moore, president and CEO, Harrington Hospital, $2,720,845 Eric Dickson, president and CEO, UMass Memorial Health Care, $2,257,995 Sergio Melgar, CFO, UMass Memorial Health Care, $1,324,090 MEDIAN MALE PAY: $404,385 Top three highest paid: Ellen Ray, chief of emergency services, Heywood Hospital, $707,905 Cheryl Lapriore, chief of staff, UMass Memorial Health Care, $534,131 Emily West, COO, Fallon Health, $476,208 MEDIAN FEMALE PAY: $350,646 Healthcare organizations (31 men, 16 women) Top three highest paid: Laurie Leshin, president, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, $1,169,437 Tracy Barlock, vice president of advancement, College of the Holy Cross, $866,053 Paula Rooney, president, Dean College, $793,450 MEDIAN FEMALE PAY: $198,525 Top three highest paid: Terence R. Flotte, executive deputy chancellor, provost, dean of School of Medicine, UMass Medical School, $800,936 Michael Collins, chancellor, UMass Medical School, $765,219 Stephen Flavin, former vice president, associate provost, and dean of corporate and professional education, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, $630,236 MEDIAN MALE PAY: $213,620 Colleges (60 men, 47 women) Source: Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service 990 forms, as reported through ProPublica and Candid by Guidestar Top three highest paid: Dr. David A. Jordan, president, Seven Hills Foundation, $923,266 Vincent Strully, president and CEO, The New England Center for Children, $581,327 Joseph Tosches, former executive VP and COO, Seven Hills Foundation, $551,643 MEDIAN MALE PAY: $218,929 Top three highest paid: Dr. Kathleen Jordan, executive VP and CEO, Seven Hills Foundation, $380,421 Judy Cunniff-Serio, former COO, The New England Center for Children, $324,276 Catherine M. Welch, executive director Southborough, The New England Center for Children, $288,331 MEDIAN FEMALE PAY: $141,766 Social service nonprofits (24 men, 15 women) Top three highest paid: Carol Meyrowitz, executive chair, TJX Corp., $10,495,506 Shacey Petrovic, president & CEO, Insulet Corp., $5,883,985 Karleen Oberton, CFO, Hologic, $2,457,965 MEDIAN FEMALE PAY: $1,504,029 Top three highest paid: Ernie Herman, president and CEO, TJX Corp., $19,083,676 Michael Mahoney, chairman & CEO, Boston Scientific, $15,764,140 Stephen Macmillan, president & CEO, Hologic, $12,374,753 MEDIAN MALE PAY: $1,860,672 Public companies (72 men, 8 women) How public companies in Central Massachusetts compare in their leaderships' gender diversity, against their statewide and national counterparts Central Mass. vs. state & nation Central Mass. Massachusetts United States CEOs 5.6% 5.0% 6.0% Executives 22.2% 18.0% 21.0% Board members 17.2% 26.7% 28.0% Source: Central Massachusetts companies: Securities and Exchange Commission; Massachusetts: 100 largest companies as analyzed by The Boston Club; United States: S&P 500 as analyzed by Catalyst and Spencer Stuart Central Massachusetts outpaces the entire state in having women CEOs at public companies – 5.6% vs. 5% – although both trail the national average at 6%. In having women on boards of directors at those companies, Central Massachusetts (17%) is behind both the state and national averages by 10 percentage points. e leadership gap is lower in certain industries. Women make up 53% of the region's social service nonprofit leader- ship, and 41% of leadership at area col- leges, according to e Boardroom Gap data. ose numbers dip into the 30s at private corporations, healthcare orga- nizations and financial institutions, and then down to 19% at public companies. Women's pay, on average, remains be- low men at these Central Massachusetts business leadership positions. At Central Massachusetts social service nonprofits, for example, men executives earn a medi- an income of $218,829, whereas women leaders are paid $141,766. e median pay for male leaders at the region's public companies is $1.9 million, compared to women executives, whose median income is $1.5 million. Although it's too early to measure the new Massachusetts paid family medi- cal leave law's impact on women who hold or aspire to leadership positions in their respective fields, it stands to reason equipping mothers with the tools and resources they need to take care of their families and protect their careers immediately upon giving birth could, in the long run, allow for more women to ascend the corporate ladder, or at least more easily retain leadership positions they already have. Employers & paid leave PFML works by taxing wages at a rate not exceeding 0.75% of an employee's eligible weekly pay, and is paid by the employee and/or their employer. ose who use the PFML program receive benefits from the Family and Medical Leave Trust Fund, based on a percentage of their income, up to $850 per week. Although the PFML program marks a significant change for employers, outside of pandemic-related financial stressors, Worcester area businesses have largely taken the new policies in stride, said Alex Guardiola, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce's director of gov- ernment affairs and public policy. e chamber, he said, has hosted webinars to prepare business owners for the steps they need to take to comply. "ey're a little nervous in the sense that they don't want to misstep or violate any kind of regulations, whether it be on the payment side or the leave availability side," Guardiola said. By and large, companies are cautiously optimistic about the law's implementa- tion, he said. ere are many reasons why women might leave their jobs, or the workforce, more broadly, aer having children. Among them are the high cost of child- care, which drives many families to make the difficult decision for one caregiver to temporarily or permanently leave their jobs; lack of workplace flexibility once mothers return to work; or, an extension of that challenge, feeling like one has not been given enough time to bond with their new child or adjust to adding a new family member to their household. While PFML is not a catch-all for every challenge faced by every working family, it does provide a social and eco- nomic buffer to allow working parents to make informed decisions about what is best for their individual families, osten- sibly easing at least some of the pressures that go into deciding when and how to keep working. Those left behind While the new PFML was designed to help professionals like Tobiasson, the Westborough teacher, balance career and family responsibilities, she would not have been eligible for the benefits. Automatically exempt from the pro- gram are all municipal employees, unless individual towns and cities choose to opt into the program through their respec- tive governing bodies, leaving leave policies up to individual and/or union negotiation. Among the municipal employees who are not guaranteed PFML benefits under the law are the roughly 75,000 full-time teachers the state's Department of Educa- tion reports employing. Municipal employees, including teachers, weren't necessarily le out of the state's PFML legislation intentionally, according to Raise Up Massachusetts, the nonprofit that coordinated the PFML ballot initiative ultimately rescinded in lieu of a legislative compromise. Leave for municipal employees was not debated as part of that process because it fell into a legal grey area, said Continued from Page 9

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