"This year, the paygap for women is 18%. Adjusted, for part-time work, e.g., it is still 6%," explains Fondsfrau Anne Connelly as she welcomes the participants to the digital lunch talk on March 11th, 2021, with the motto "Show us the Money". On the occasion of The Equal Pay Day, the issue of women's salaries and how women negotiate was discussed.

The high number of registrations with over 222 shows that the topic is still relevant in this day and age!

Speakers at this webinar were:

  • Manuela Reiter, Head of Human Resources bei Amundi Deutschland
  • Nadinka de Lusanoff, Account Management, Pimco
  • Ilse Munnikhoff, Head of Investment Advice bei der ING Deutschland, und im Beirat bei den Fondsfrauen
  • Claudia Kimich, negotiation coach

Pay Transparecy Act
One topic was the Pay Transparency Act of June 2017, which is intended to ensure equal pay for equal work between men and women. Newly introduced basis for salary equality is an individual right of access, which employees at companies of more than 200 employees have. However, it does not mention the salaries of individual colleagues, but the median of a comparison group. In that way, it can be determined whether there is a gender paygap, which may then have to be closed.

Companies with more than 500 employees have to install their own gender paygap testing procedures, and even larger companies are required to report on this issue.

During the lunch talk, the question was asked whether someone had already used the right of access – apparently none of the participant had.

It was also mentioned that companies in the UK are obliged to publish the gender paygap for the whole company. So if they employ predominantly men on the executive boards, this leads to a high gender paygap to be identified. It was agreed that this measure would ensure that companies in the UK pay more attention to getting more women into the boards.

 

"What did your pay package look like so far?"
The issue of how to react when asked about the previous salary package during the interview was also raised. The background to this question is that companies like to avoid someone making a very big pay jump. Should we mention our salary on this issue? Deny a statement? Telling a lie?

The panelists agreed that women only achieve a really big pay jump if they change their employer. In the current company, this is difficult.

Negotiation coach Claudia Kimich also gave the advice to always have a good picture of your own achievements in mind in order to be able to take advantage of the opportunities for salary negotiations. By the way, the idea that you can annoy your boss with a salary talk should be eliminated from your head.

Negotiating during a pandemic?
It was also asked whether a salary negotiation should be wise now in the middle of a pandemic. The women agreed that this might not be appropriate in the tourism or event industry at the moment, but in the case of asset managers or the IT industry. Here, 100% performance would be expected, then 100% salary could also be expected.

The lively discussion showed that the topic of salary moves us women. Our next digital lunch talk is already in the planning stage. The exact topic and date will be announced in due time.

Profilbild von Anke Dembowski

Anke Dembowski

Anke Dembowski is a financial journalist and author of various investment fund-related and other financial books. She is also a co-founder of the "Fondsfrauen" network.

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