Pay Equity Conversation Guide

Prioritizing pay equity is not only good for legal compliance and morally and ethically the right thing to do, but it’s a smart way to manage your talent.

Select from the following talking points as you build support for a pay equity initiative at your organization. You may choose to use the checkboxes as a walk-through exercise. Your choices are not recorded.

Step 2: Use Supporting Data

Choose data points that uniquely reflect what motivates your organization’s leaders. Stick to the few, top data points that you think will have the most impact.

Consider including company or industry-specific information where available, and keep in mind that business framing tends to be more powerful than moral framing. Here are a few facts and figures to get started:

1.6X

Research by the Josh Bersin Company and Salary.com shows that companies that are effective at pay equity are 1.6 times more likely to meet or exceed financial targets

59%

59% of workers who find out they are earning less than coworkers with the same experience or title look for a new job within a year.

30%

Organizations that remediate documented gender pay gaps can decrease women's attrition by 30%, reducing pressure on talent shortages.

3-4X

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that employers can expect to pay an average of $4,700 per new hire, with many employers estimating the total cost of a new hire to be 3x to 4x the position’s salary

$180K

On a conservative basis, a Great Place to Work report found that companies with standard turnover rates lose nearly $180,000 per year to employee turnover.

72%

72% of C-suite say pay equity is a critical component of their people and business strategy.

60%

Nearly 3 in 5 employers conduct pay equity reviews.

$4K

In one study on the impact of subtle biases, identical job applications with the names John and Jennifer were submitted for a lab manager role. Professors offered 'John' a $4,000 higher salary, more mentoring, and rated him as more competent and hirable than 'Jennifer'.

Step 3: Customize, Customize, Customize

The more you can tie your arguments to specific stories and data from within your organization and industry the better.

Step 4: Make the Ask