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Mail Today, New Delhi, Wednesday, May 19, 201022 FEMAIL MAGAZINE
Why negotiating for higher salaries makes women nervous
ARE WOMEN seen as being
overly demanding when theyattempt to negotiate theirsalary? Some studies do seem tosuggest that and much more.Women may even face higher
social risk compared to men when theyappear to negotiate salary.
These findings came up while studying the salarypatterns of women and men. Yes, the studies high-lighted the same old story — that in most sectorswomen were found to earn less than their malecounterparts and one of the arguments that was putforward was that women earn less because theydon’t push as hard as men for higher salaries. Andthe ‘why’ to that revealed further that women feltnervous as it was perceived as being “less nice oroverly demanding”, according to Hannah RileyBowles, associate professor at Harvard University.
Now, did the current crop of senior executives inpost-liberalisation India feel the same way? Yes andno, depending on which sectors they belonged to.In banking and financial services, information tech-nology, hospitality and other sectors which havemany women in their workforce, it’s not the case.
As Aparna Sharma, director – HR at leading bio-pharma firm UCB India, puts it: “Mindsets are grad-ually changing alright, but there are still those whodo wonder loudly why a woman wants more money ifshe has a husband who must be earning well.” Ask fora raise in position and there still are people who wantto know why is she being so aggressive. “Does shewant to become the CEO or a board member — that’sthe question asked. And this mindset will change onlywhen more women make it to the Board and take sen-ior positions,” Sharma says. “Conventionally, womenare seen as more compliant, less ambitious, lessaggressive and assertive, and this image has to dowith stereotypes in society,” adds Sharma.
In the BPO sector, for instance, which has a hugefemale workforce, especially at the entry and middlelevels, executives say that byand large there’s emphasis onrewarding the best talentregardless of gender or caste. “Ifa female employee has demon-strated commitment and is will-ing to shoulder responsibilitiesequivalent to the male col-leagues, we provide her thesame growth opportunities interms of salary hikes as a maleemployee would get within theorganisation,” says Anju Talwar,senior vice president, trainingand hiring, Genpact.
As for the banking and finan-cial services sector — that’swhere you see women in corefunctions, not just the soft
areas, and the greatest numberof woman CEOs and MDs too.
According to Sharma, this isan industry-specific issue andit’s in the male-dominatedindustries that a woman whodemands a better salary or alarger role is perceived nega-tively. But Sharma’s advice isthat no matter what your col-leagues may think, you muststand your ground, be assertiveand have the courage to demandwhat you think is your due.
“My personal experience isthat men aren’t shy to makedemands, whereas women feelyou should understand their
needs. But if you don’t ask,there’ll be many who will say,‘But we thought you were happywith what you were getting’,”says Sharma.
T HE BEST time tonegotiate is at thetime of theappraisal, accordingto Sharma. “It’s not
about whether you’re male orfemale, but about the value thatyou bring to the organisation.”Talwar says that from her expe-
rience, the best way to move upthe ladder is to develop anddemonstrate the right leader-ship skills, be willing to takerisks and get out of one’s com-fort zone, learn new things,always deliver to commitments,be fast with decision-making,develop a good organisation,and most importantly be able tonetwork.
While negotiating, Sharmaadvises women to go for somehard-sell. “There was a timewhen I felt I wasn’t being com-pensated enough — since therewere few in the industry with myspecific job-profile, I demanded
that my role be benchmarkedagainst industry standards. Wedid get someone to do that andthereafter my compensation wasrevised,” she says. Women alsoneed to work harder at percep-tion management since theyaren’t very good at showcasingtheir skills.
But the bottomline is that awoman draws negative atten-tion when she demands morebecause there are so few of themdemanding a larger role. Theonly way to change that is toensure that there are morewomen in senior positions.
sobha.menon@mailtoday.in
Are you seen as being overlydemanding?
Payal emailed to ask: My hus-band is always so taken upwith work that we haven’t beenable to manage even a smallweekend getaway in ages now.Is there a way out?
This is one situation where yourhusband’s work-life imbalance isaffecting your work-life balance ina major way. You could try some ofthe following remedies to get outof this situation.wing questions toresolve the issue:
� Be a patient listener: Encouragehim to share his problems at work.Understand the situations thatforce him to work over the week-end. If he is constantly complain-ing about being tired, talk to adietician and plan a healthy menu
for him. If the problem persists,visit a doctor for a routine check-up.
� Help him help himself: Help himthink through options that willallow him to plan better and man-age time more efficiently. This way,he will gain better control over hiswork and be in a more relaxedstate of mind. This might help youtake off for a vacation. Otherwise,even if you manage to go, his mindwill be on work and you will onlycome back feeling worse.
� Share more: Once you get yourhusband to start sharing the prob-lems he goes through at work, youcould start sharing yours too. How-ever, never do so during the sameconversation. In addition, never
make him feel guilty. Both of youneed to take responsibility foreach other’s well-being and notplay the blame game.
� Start small: Plan for dinner athome with his office colleagues.This will help him bond better withhis staff. It could also boost produc-tivity at work leaving him withmore time for you during theweekends, also increasing chancesof planning a longer holiday.
(Sanjay Salooja, is as an educator, corporate
philosopher and life coach)
by Sobha Menon
HOW TO ENSURE YOUR PARTNERHAS ENOUGH TIME FOR YOU
CONTENT POWERED BY
VIKASH SHARMA
Mindsets aregraduallychanging insome sectors
APARNA SHARMA, DIRECTOR-HR, UCB INDIA
‘’
Get out of yourcomfort zoneand pick upnew skills
ANJU TALWARSR VP, GENPACT
‘’
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