Sarah Hazen is an experienced PR, advertising, and communications’ professional who has worked with agencies spanning London, New York and Sydney. With a background in agency leadership and integrated campaign planning, Sarah has partnered with global retail, destination and FMCG brands including Scentre Group, Netflix, W Hotels of New York, eBay and illy café. Sarah is now the general manager (Sydney) at Cassette, a creative communications agency.
With WGEA’s employer gender pay gap findings revealed, I’ve found myself reflecting on a valuable lesson learnt early in my career.
It was years ago, when I was relatively fresh to the professional world, that I found out a colleague – someone I helped manage and who was more junior than I was – was getting paid more than me.
With a knee-jerk and heated reaction, I immediately put a meeting in with my director. After I feverishly laid out my argument of targets beaten and accolades received to justify my disappointment, I forcefully, and probably clumsily, concluded: “I can’t take your compliments to the bank and cash them.”
The bottom line from that meeting was not about my performance, which they agreed, was solid. The key takeaway: “Sarah, you didn’t ask.”
He negotiated.
I did not.
He was not happy with their initial offer.
I took it, excited to be accepted and not wanting to risk the decision by questioning it.
At the next pay review, he negotiated again.
At mine, I accepted what was offered, smiling. Again. Even though I felt that I deserved – and frankly, anticipated – more.
This was not about comparisons of performance or gender; I don’t believe the company’s decisions were sexist or malicious. From their point of view, I was content. I was seemingly happy with what I was being paid and I never questioned it – so why would they?
It was a horrible, sinking feeling: I was ignorant and, even complicit, in potentially depreciating my own value. And, as it turns out, I’d been doing that for longer than I thought.
As young girl growing up in Tennessee, I was taught that the idea of discussing money – especially women discussing money – was vulgar. It was simply not-a-done-thing. So, when it came to establishing and connecting a value to my own self-worth, I had no skills. Worse than that, I had no idea.
I was naïve. I assumed it was simple: you work hard, you drive success for the business, and you get paid accordingly. So that’s what I did; I did the best work I could for the company and the clients – but never for myself. Turns out, I should have also been working hard to equate, and personally-advocate for, how that work relates to my worth.
The difficulty I had discussing my own personal value was not an isolated experience then, and it still isn’t now. So many women still struggle to get paid their worth, let alone talk about it.
Last year, a study found that women were less likely than men to have requested a salary increase despite being equally affected by rising living costs [2023; Ciphr]. On the other hand, more hopeful studies have shown women are equally, and even sometimes more likely to ask for promotions and salary increases in comparison to their male counterparts. The only thing is, they’re not necessarily achieving them: one in five women who ask for a pay rise is successful in receiving it compared to just under one in three men [2022; YouGov].
With the release of WGEA’s report, it gives me hope to see that conversations around the gender pay gap are building, businesses are increasingly taking action to achieve equity, and women are more aware than ever that negotiation is an option. But, we also need immediate solutions – shifts in thinking that are grown, nurtured and advocated for from the beginning of the journey:
1.) Ask. Always Ask. There’s a lot that’s out of your control; this isn’t.
2.) Leaders who are not in positions of change, know that you still are. When I managed a team but didn’t have the power to adjust their pay, I mentored them. It was obvious to me who might not have the skills for a financial discussion, so I would proactively approach these members and help prepare them for those critical meetings. Together, we would work on strategies to overcome the barrier to asking.
3.) Leaders who are in positions of change, don’t wait for the ask. Lead with integrity. When I reached a point in my career where I could influence organisational financial change, I made a point to course correct where I was able to. Did this mean I gave everyone a pay-rise, every time, and said an emphatic ‘yes’ when anyone asked for a promotion? No. As much as I wish I had limitless resources, businesses have limits. But, as a personal mantra and whenever I had an influential audience, I would share my experience and put as much emphasis on a culture of integrity. A culture that does what it can, within its limits, to foster transparent conversations – and a culture that does not wait for the ask, the fear of losing someone or for the eventual resignation, to re-evaluate someone’s worth.
It's been a long road of discovery. The initial revelation that hard work doesn’t always pay off was a tough, but valuable lesson. Thankfully, what does pay off is initiative, confidence and self-awareness.
