It’s a well documented fact that male employees tend to earn better than their female counterparts. Why this anomaly still occurs in 21st century workplaces is a  mystery.

Some interesting results on male and female pay disparity is emerging from the recent study we conducted on high-income executives in Australia. Interestingly, male executives tend to get their pay rise as a result of their performance, while female executives are more likely to get a raise if they change employers or move around departments.

When asked ‘what triggers your pay rise’ (see chart) more men tend to get their raise from activities (such as performance review and promotion) which, generally speaking, involves a modicum of self-promotion and confrontation. Arguably, changing employers, through which 24% of female executives got a raise compared to 19% for male, is less confrontational than asking for a pay rise.

Are women executives less demanding when it comes to asking for a pay rise? Why are more men getting a pay rise as a result of performance review? Does the disparity in how male and female executives get their pay rise contributes to disparity in the amount earned? If so, why?

I will be dissecting more of the subject in Melbourne. Come along.

I played with ABS data. The graph below tells us two things:

a) We have come a long way with our pay. Since Nov 1983, average national weekly earnings almost tripled, increasing from $312.60 to $923.40 in May 2009.

b) We have a long way to go before gender pay equality exists. In May 2009, men earn $1115.80 compared to women who average $733.40.

The graph is a simplistic trending picture of gross national earnings (before tax), and may not be reflective of many professions or industries. However, pay disparity along gender lines is a puzzling reality. In some industries like IT, the inequality is driving women away.

A lot of attention has been shed on executives pay. Gender disparity in earnings deserves equal, if not more, attention.

If you are female and earning less for doing the same work as your male counterpart, would you do anything to rectify it? If you are male and aware of pay disparity how would you react? What is your story?

“At the end of my salary I always have a lot of month left” – loesje.org

The economy is shuttering, salaries are doomed! Wrong, it’s never completely black or white. In fact, very few things in an organisation are more critical, contentious and complex, than the salaries of staff. Varying widely across industries, regions and companies, how salaries behave is hard to understand and unpredictable.

Yet, remuneration is deeply intertwined with recruitment; it is a subject which will continue to define our industry.

In the coming days, I’ll explore more about the subject in various contexts. Meanwhile, here’s a presentation from a year ago where I discussed about remuneration trends in the technology sector. Some of the data (e.g. unemployment rate) needs updating, but the main themes (e.g. the importance of intrinsic benefits) around the drivers of remuneration trends remain valid.  What is your experience of using remuneration as a recruitment tool?

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