
How the “what’s your current salary?” question hurts the gender pay gap - yla92
https://medium.com/@googleforwork/how-the-whats-your-current-salary-question-hurts-the-gender-pay-gap-bc9016a316ba#.kgmv867dt
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jbmorgado
Are there any data that actually confirms there is a real pay gap for people
with the same aptitude in any given professional area? In the 1st world at
least?

Is that the closest study we have in this regard
([http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/05/gender-...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/05/gender-
pay-gap-0) for instance) shows the real pay gap to be only 1.6% and that is
not accounting for any other factors than formation and work time.

That very small 1.6% can easily be explained by the higher amount of work
leave time woman have for taking more sick days and for maternity (I'm not
saying it's fair that woman are very slightly put back at work for maternity
leave, it's clearly not, I'm just saying that the difference in the salary is
very small in any case).

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loumf
The 3rd paragraph of the linked to article says:

 _Indeed, in a recent paper, Cornell professors Francine Blau and Lawrence
Kahn found that women were paid 79 cents for each dollar a man was paid. Even
after adjusting for type of job, industry, experience, location and education,
the gap remained 92 cents for each dollar._

With a link to: [http://ftp.iza.org/dp9656.pdf](http://ftp.iza.org/dp9656.pdf)

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patio11
_At Google, recruiters typically ask about salary as a data point, but neither
they nor hiring managers make decisions about pay._

I would encourage everyone to:

a) Consider what the likelihood is that Google, which exists to organize the
world's information, solicits information from a candidate which it entirely
does not care about

b) Consider quoting to Google "It is my understanding that your salaries are
set by your People Operations team. As such, my prior salary apparently
doesn't get included in your calculation. Awesome -- no need to discuss it
then." as one of your dodges for the salary question, which you _should
practically never answer._

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blazespin
the recruiter needs it because he needs to know if you're bother going to say
yes to an offer. His/Her job is to help broker the gap between you and the
organization. They do need to know.

I'm sure google finds out about salary levels by simply making offers and
recording rejections. It also probably means they are more open to negotiation
than other organizations because they have fewer data points.

The post actually seems very very authentic to me, as cynical as I am about
the process. My guess is they put their money where their mouth is on this
one.

~~~
Chris2048
> the recruiter needs it because he needs to know if you're bother going to
> say yes to an offer

Recruiters usually have roles to fill, rather than candidates they are trying
to find roles for. They can give a range to a candidate, and ask if they'd be
interested. They don't need to be given a number.

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pillowkusis
As far as I know, there is no evidence to suggest that a gender gap exists for
the same skill level in the same region performing the same job. Does anyone
have evidence for this?

And if not, the "gender pay gap" seems like a total non-issue. It is perfectly
OK that women choose to go into jobs with lower salaries (as long as a man in
that position would make the same).

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supercanuck
Why not find someone to replace Alexander and pay fhem $50,000?

