women2business: The Six Golden Rules for Negotiating Your Salary

Last week you read “Gender Bias at Work”, the first part of my review on the Liesel Beckmann Symposium on Gender and Diversity. Another topic presented and discussed at this symposium was “The Gender Pay Gap: Is it Simply a Lack of Recognition towards Women’s Contributions?” by Dr. Clara Kulich from the University of Geneva. While I am a huge fan of data and research, I realize it is also important to deliver real-life suggestions for the times when you are in the situation of, say, negotiating a salary. And it just so happens that I am in that situation right now.

Scientific Research on the Gender Pay Gap

Nevertheless, let’s begin with some research on the Gender Pay Gap. At the symposium, Dr. Clara Kulich summarized that the overall gender pay gap is around 19% and rises to 26% in managerial positions. However, not only the base salary is relevant when comparing women’s vs. men’s salaries, but also flexible remuneration such as bonuses, stocks and options, pension contributions etc. These flexible parts of an income can complicate a comparison, especially because women prefer “safe” pay packages that are not performance-oriented.

The Negotiation

We want to close that Gender Pay Gap. Now. If things continue developing at the pace they are now, we’ll have equal pay by 2058. That won’t do us any good, because we’ll be retired. Women negotiate less when it comes to their own salary – and this in part contributes to the Gender Pay Gap. I would like to make you more comfortable with negotiating your salary. Be it for an internship or your first job out of university. It certainly is something I had to get comfortable with. So I searched career-help books (including Lean In for Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg) and the web, and picked the following six rules as the most important when it comes to negotiating your salary.

Never “sell yourself” under value. Know exactly what you are worth. Take into account your professional experience (from previous internships, jobs, projects at university including student organizations etc.) and your education. Don’t sell yourself under value, because your pay also is an indicator of how respected and valuable you are to a company.
Do the research. Gather information about not only yourself, but also about your potential employer. There are various sources you can utilize to access information on the average salary you can expect in a certain field (see links below). Take into account the company’s size, number of employees, and office location. Then, consider yourself. What would you like to make and what minimum amount do you need to support yourself (and perhaps take a vacation)?
Wait until you receive an offer. Don’t state compensation requirements right away in the interview. If the recruiter asks you to call out a number, try to delay the topic so you can fully demonstrate your qualifications first. Postpone the negotiation by inquiring further about the position and responsibility within the company. You can also ask for a salary range for comparable positions in the company. If your interviewer does not let loose, utilize the research you have done and aim for a range slightly above this average (e.g. if the range is 30.000€-35.000€, state 36.000€-40.000€). Also, never accept the first offer!
Negotiate communally. You might be thinking that I have some sort of disorder telling you to act in a communal way (= female stereotype) when I just wrote an entire article about Gender Bias at work. When negotiating, even Sheryl Sandberg advises women to “think personally, act communally”. In more concrete terms, this means you should stress communal goals that you want to achieve in the job (e.g. improving the team’s success) when discussing compensation. Acting in a communal way will lead to better negotiation results for women.
Define your walking-away number. What is your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement)? This is the lowest amount you are willing to accept – your walk-away number. If the employee’s final offer lies below your BATNA, then you will walk away. Remember that your BATNA is subject to change over the course of your career as you gain experience and expertise. Don’t remain in a position where you are undervalued.
Practice. It can be daunting to have an upcoming compensation negotiation. So prepare. Write a script with your negotiation outline and role-play with a family member or friend. Get used to arguing your position in a negotiation.