Tag Archives: business

A simple and sad reason why women make less money than men

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Often, a woman will enter the salary negotiation phase and I’ll tell them a number will be sent to them in a couple days. Usually we start around $45k for an entry level position. 50% to 60% of the women I interview simply take this offer. It’s insane, I already know I can get authorization for more if you simply refuse. Inversely, almost 90% of the men I interview immediately ask for more upon getting the offer.

 

The next major mistake happens with how they ask for more. In general, the women I have negotiated with will say 45k is not enough and they need more, but not give a number. I will then usually give a nominal bump to 48k or 50k. Company policy wont let me bump more than 5k over the initial offer unless they specifically request more. On the other hand, men more frequently will come back with a number along the lines of 65k to 75k, and I will be forced to negotiate down from there. After this phase, almost all women will take the offer or move on to somewhere else, not knowing they could have gotten more if they asked.

 

At the end, most of the women I hire make between 45k and 50k, whereas the men make between 60k and 70k. Even more crazy, they ask for raises far less often, so the disparity only grows.

From “I work for a large multinational tech company, I regularly hire woman for 65% to 75% of what males make. I am sick of it, here is why it happens, and how you can avoid it.” on Reddit

A tale of two business books

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Two business books I’m reading: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath and Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin.

It’s a bit unfair to compare the two, because Purple Cow was published in 2002 and Godin has gone on to create other new ideas since then. But I am still struck by how little value I’m getting from Purple Cow compared to how much I’m getting from Made to Stick.

Purple Cow is full of case studies and examples, and questions from Godin. The goal seems to be to get a business person to ask why he is doing things the old way, and to try to shake up his company to create new value. And the overall sense is that the person reading the book hasn’t quite bought into the idea that being remarkable is the path to success, doesn’t quite get it.

All well and good.

Made to Stick is full of case studies too, but the authors have taken the examples and created frameworks and guides to help a business person apply the lessons of the case studies. The overall sense is that the reader understands that sticky = good (at least, after the first chapter’s persuasive argument), so the bulk of the book is devoted to figuring out how to make ideas sticky.

I read Seth Godin’s blog, but sometimes I kind of hate it. I feel scolded by it, although I think I do "get it." I keep reading because I think he offers good ideas on creating value through community — and because I worry that I’ll miss something of value.

I’m pleased though to add the Made to Stick blog to my feedreader. Seems both friendly and informative.

The most useful material in the world

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Yet ANOTHER use for Duct Tape...

I heard there’s a Winter Storm Watch in this area tonight and tomorrow. Typically this means there’s a mini-run in the storms on toilet paper, bread, and milk.

While those are all very good items to have in case of emergency, I always think people should buy duct tape. In a real emergency, duct tape would be very useful: sealing up cracks to keep out the cold, repairing things, and so on. In a pinch you can make clothes with it.

As I looked for an image to accompany this post, I discovered the photo above, which was taken last December. Another canny use of duct tape!

With all the corporate restructuring that’s bound to happen in the coming months, big companies had best start stocking up.

(Photo credit: Yet ANOTHER use for Duct Tape…, originally uploaded by Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek ).)

Not easy

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For three years, we’ve been using ridiculously bad chairs in the Big Big Design offices. No arm support, poor back support, wrong height — an ergonomic nightmare.

So at long last, I’ve decided we should have better chairs. We searched some websites and catalogs, and we chose chairs that are available at Staples. Nothing too fancy, but they have adjustable heights and tilting and whatnot; they look like they’ll do fine.

Anthony called our local Staples to see if the chairs were in stock. And yes, there are three chairs sitting in the stock room right now.

We have a coupon for $30 off a Staples purchase, for use only when we place an order online or by phone.

Can we place the order online, get the coupon discount, and pick up the chairs at the local store? No. To get the discount, we have to have the chairs shipped to us. Shipping is free.

In other words, Staples will lose money by shipping these chairs directly to us instead of allowing us to drive over and pick the chairs up. Nice.