Experts Answer "Two People I Supervise Make More Money Than Me — What Should I Do?" + More
The Women at Work Podcast Shares Actionable Advice on Money, Working in a Male-Dominated Industry, and Finding a Sponsor
Recently I've noticed a bit of a trend (anecdotal evidence alert!) 🚨— I hear more and more folks asking for actionable advice.
Especially when it comes to conversations about women's experiences in the workplace, I've noticed many of my friends, as well as PowerToFly community members and colleague, stop the conversation ten minutes in to say, "But what can we do about?"
As a writer, I'm partial to conversation — I think that dialogue in and of itself is valuable. BUT I also know that talking only gets us so far. We have to pair all that talk with action (even when we desperately need systemic change, we can still do a lot to change and improve our own situations).
So when I read Amanda Kersey's recent article about the Harvard Business Review's Women at Work Podcast, her experience immediately rang true: "When listeners tell us they want something, I pin their requests to the top of our show planning document. A piece of feedback that guided this past season's production was 'more actionable advice.'"
She explained that 3 of their episodes in particular sparked lots of follow-up questions from listeners, so they asked the hosts to share more actionable advice in response to listeners' questions:
- Let's Talk About Money — with guest Amelia Ransom, Sr. Director of Engagement and Diversity at Avalara
- Sponsorship: Defining the Relationship — with guest Rosalind Chow, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior (with tenure) at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University
- When You Work in a Male-Dominated Industry - Teresa Cardador, Associate professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
So naturally, I wanted to share their advice with our audience here. The questions from listeners and the hosts' responses are summarized and paraphrased below. Be sure to read the full Q&A here, and let us know what types of things you want actionable advice on in the comments below!
6 Questions + Answers with Actionable Advice
Let's Talk About Money: Advice from Amelia Ransom
What should you do if you feel like a new hire oversold their skills and is now being paid more than other people who actually add more value?
- Re-evaluate your interview process. It should be designed to catch oversights like these.
- Make sure you're being honest with yourself about the expectations for the role and expressing them clearly.
I found out two people I supervise make more money than me. What do I do?
- Understand that supervisors shouldn't necessarily make more money than their direct reports. Depending on what you do, the ICs you're managing might actually have a higher value in the marketplace.
- "Ask your manager if they are aware of the discrepancy and whether that's intentional.... Just be careful not to draw a conclusion before you do so."
Sponsorship: Defining the Relationship: Advice from Rosalind Chow
How should I thank my sponsor? What's too much or too little?
Think about how much your sponsor has staked their reputation to help you, and then tailor your thank you accordingly. A general "so and so is great" probably doesn't warrant a specific thank you, but if your sponsor introduces you to someone and says you'd be great for [insert job here], that probably warrants a thank you note.
"What happens when your sponsor leaves the company and/or they get pushed out and you become collateral damage?"
- Don't limit yourself to a single sponsor! You need to diversify, especially the higher up you get.
- If circumstances allow, ask your sponsor to introduce you to someone else at the company who can step up as your sponsor.
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When You Work in a Male-Dominated Industry: Answers from Teresa Cardador
"I find it is often assumed that I don't know what I am talking about... How can women effectively establish credibility in new environments without playing into classic negative stereotypes of women who are too assertive?"
- "Research suggests that one technique that can work for women is to combine assertive behaviors with more stereotypically feminine behaviors, such as concern and participation."
- "Focus on demonstrating good performance rather than asserting your credentials. In time, your good performance will speak for itself."
"How can you tell whether the feedback you're getting is driven by an actual need to adjust your approach or by gender bias (or both)?"
- Ask for specific instances of when you are seen as behaving aggressively.
- Ask whether/how they see your behavior affecting your performance.
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What do you think?
Do you agree with their answers? Which topics do you want actionable advice on? Let us know in the comments! ⬇️
Growing Your Career in Technical Support: 4 Tips for Getting Hired at Elastic from Support Director Heidi Sager
Heidi Sager loves math, but she also loves working with people.
She always has, which is why she enjoyed her part-time job working at the IT department of the University of Colorado while she was studying electrical engineering. (She'd started in computer science, but explains that it "wasn't for her" and switched her major.) She helped students and professors with word processors, basic programming, and software checkout, and took a full-time job after graduation as a UNIX system administrator.
3 Women, 7 Lessons: What These Relativity Leaders Learned in 2020
Working at Relativity—the global tech company that equips legal and compliance professionals with a powerful data-organizing and discovery platform—looked different in 2020. The highly collaborative environment of their Chicago headquarters transitioned to a virtual setting, and just like companies around the country, Relativity adapted their goals and major projects to a completely remote environment.
8 (Virtual) Diversity Conferences to Attend in 2021
Diversity Reboot 2021: The One Hundred Day Kickoff
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 1-5, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free!</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://summit.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>We had to include our own Diversity Reboot on our list of the best diversity and inclusion events to attend in 2021 because we know firsthand how the quality of 100+ expert speakers, the enthusiasm of 10,000 participants, and the cutting-edge tech that enables meaningful virtual networking and job fairs combine to create a truly epic five-day experience. This year, the theme 100 Day Kickoff harnesses the energy of the new government's first 100 days in office to help jump-start personal and professional plans to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces. </p><p>Following the February summit, we'll have a monthly series of smaller virtual summits on topics spanning everything from returnships to LGBTQ+ advocacy, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!<br></p>The Future of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 3-4, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hr.com/en/webcasts_events/virtual_events/upcoming_virtual_events/the-future-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-2021_kcxf8glq.html#detail" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This virtual conference put on by HR.com focuses on how social movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter have pushed DEI at work beyond legal compliance and into a major factor of any company or brand's culture, employee engagement, and performance. Topics include how to uncover and resolve pay gaps across your team and hire top-level diverse talent.</p>Workplace Revolution: From Talk to Collective Action
<p><strong>When</strong>: March 8-12, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$820</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://cvent.me/ZQ4BbE" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>The Forum on Workplace Inclusion's 33rd annual conference includes 12 session tracks, from DEI Strategy to Social Responsibility, along with 59 workshops and daily networking sessions. This year's theme focuses on one question: "What will it take to start a workplace revolution that moves us from talk to action?"</p>Diversity: How Employers Can Match Words With Deeds
<p><strong>When</strong><strong>: </strong>May 19, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register</strong><strong>: </strong>Early bird registration is $49 and general admission is $149</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://hopin.com/events/may-virtual-conference-diversity-how-employers-can-match-words-with-deeds" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Here</a></p><p>From Day One is hosting monthly conferences in 2021 focused on different ways for companies to foster strong relationships with their customers, communities, and employees. May's half-day virtual event is focused specifically on how companies can make diversity promises that don't fall flat and features workshops, panels, and a fireside chat.</p>Hire with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
<p><strong>When:</strong> August 18, 2021</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$195</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hci.org/conferences/2021-virtual-conference-hire-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-august-18-2021" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This conference put on by the Human Capital Institute is one of 12 virtual conferences that HCI has planned for 2021. This one focuses on fair and inclusive talent acquisition, including how to attract diverse talent, implement inclusive hiring practices, and addressing bias in employee selection. Other conferences will focus on optimizing talent strategy, engaging employees, and developing your workforce.</p>Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> September 26-29, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual, broadcast from Chicago, Illinois</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Was $799 for regular access to the virtual conference in 2020; 2021 pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://ghc.anitab.org/attend/registration/" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>Grace Hopper might be the best-known conference for women in tech. Through keynote presentations, networking sessions, job fairs, and community-building activities, vGHC reached over 30,000 women for their 2020 conference and are expecting even more in 2021! While not a conference focused exclusively on diversity and inclusion, many speakers plan to focus their talks on creating environments for women to thrive in the male-dominated tech field.</p>Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> October 25-27, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual and in person in Austin, Texas as of now</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://conferences.shrm.org/inclusion" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>The Society for Human Resource Management's biggest conference of the year saw 1,200 DEI leaders participate last year; SHRM hopes to see even more come to learn, be inspired, and to walk away with a playbook of implementable strategies to create truly inclusive workplace cultures.</p>AfroTech 2021
<p><strong></strong><strong>When:</strong> November 8-13, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Early bird pricing is $149 for individuals and $249 for corporate attendees; regular pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://experience.afrotech.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>AfroTech is a conference hosted by Blavity, a tech media platform for Black millennials. It focuses on emerging tech trends, connecting Black talent with top tech recruiters, and providing networking and educational opportunities, with an overall goal of building a strong Black tech community. Over 10,000 people participated in 2020. While the conference isn't focused specifically on DEI, its main audience of Black tech talent is an important one to understand and to engage at work and beyond, and several speakers plan to focus on issues of race and inclusion at work. </p>Finding Her Sport: Being Part of the Team in a Startup Environment
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