Women are incredible contributors to the workforce. Studies indicate that groups including women exhibit higher collective intelligence. According to the Pew Research Center, women match or surpass men in seven out of eight leadership traits. These advantages translate into tangible gains: a Harvard Kennedy School study revealed that teams with fewer women experience lower sales and profits compared to those with a balanced gender mix.
But for women seeking their next role, defining their value and what they bring to the table can be challenging. Contributing to these challenges include gender bias, motherhood penalties, fear of backlash. All of which contribute to a lack of confidence.
One other challenge for women negotiating is lack of information.
To combat the lack of information challenge, Women in Revenue hosted a “Negotiate to Elevate” event in San Francisco on June 5, 2024. During this session, female leaders – Hang Black, Anne Pao, Stephanie Valenti, Jen Dimas, and Simina Simion – in revenue roles shared their perspectives about how to negotiate to elevate your worth and get more than the status quo.
Finding roles that fit
“Spray and pray” can lead women down a tricky worm hole. The expression spray and pray is a marketing, sales, or job seeking tactic that involves sending the same resume to a large number of job openings or recruiters in the hopes that a small percentage will respond. When you start getting responses to this approach (it becomes a numbers game), you begin to wonder
Instead, you can use a more judicious approach. Be as specific as possible in articulating and defining what you are looking for in your next role such as size of company, industry, role, etc.
Anne Pao, Founder & CEO of Ignite Consulting and Women in Revenue board member recommends building a clear list of factors. Keep a grid of your past jobs, your current job, or your future jobs and score your satisfaction with total offerings. Here are some of the categories:
- Total compensation (including base, bonus, signing bonus, retention bonus)
- Manager fit
- Title
- Career mobility
- WFH / hybrid/ flexible work option
- Benefits
- Parental leave coverage and impact on variable
- Stock options, exercise time
- Expected overtime
When negotiating with an organization, rate each category on a scale of 1-10. These factors can help you objectively see the factors you can discuss and negotiate.
Other ways to find roles that fit:
- Avoid roles that don’t have pay transparency
- Look at the percentage of women on the leadership team and on the board
- Have a clear list of non-negotiables for what makes a good work environment for you
- Companies don’t change their benefits or cultural policies for one individual, so be sure to vet this when you’re interviewing
How do you know what you’re worth?
Determining your value add might be different for each organization you apply to, but knowing and defining what that value is will help you negotiate your worth and a better package. This information is often hidden and not in plain view. Research has found that even though women are more likely to request a salary bump they, on average, ask for less than men because women’s beliefs around what constitutes a “reasonable amount” for a role/ideal candidate differ from men’s beliefs. With more information comes more opportunity to alter those beliefs and attitudes and get objective data around your worth.
One recommendation that came out of the session is to make a spreadsheet to track all of your key metrics over time so you can look back and be reminded of your value. Constantly take stock of your value, the things you value, and put a price tag on those things. Document all accomplishments you’ve had in your roles to identify key contributions. Review to-do lists, notebooks, and calendars to jog your memory. Group tasks into main projects or performance indicators, distinguishing basic responsibilities from true accomplishments. Quantify your impact, such as increased efficiency. Map these accomplishments to job responsibilities to show how you exceeded expectations. Make your achievements SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Real, Timely). Lastly, identify areas for growth and set specific goals for next year.
Here are a few additional resources to help you determine your value:
- FairComp.io
- Facebook group “Moms in Tech” has negotiating discussions on Wednesdays
- Levels.fyi to see what companies are paying
- LinkedIn Search to see similar roles and their pay bands
- Pave has great salary benchmarks for startups and you can set up a free account
- Pavilion
- Women in Revenue
Negotiating the package best for you
Negotiating can be scary, awkward, and even uncomfortable the first time you ask for what you want. The more information you have on what the other party can give, the more negotiating power you have. So go do that research and ask for what you want.
Here are quotes from attendees to help inspire you to negotiate for what you need:
- “Advocate for and believe in yourself when negotiating. Don’t hold back and don’t sell yourself short!”
- “Know your value and put a tax on it.”
- “The right job will come along. Don’t settle. I’ve always thought that, but hearing it from ladies who are also successful cemented it for me.”
The door is open and you have the power to ask for what you deserve. At the end of the day, the adage, “it never hurts to ask” is true. The worst they can say is no. Rarely do employers rescind the offer just because you countered their offer. And if they do, trust us, that’s not somewhere you want to be.
Begin Negotiating by Asking Questions
If you’re looking for a place to start, go to the recruiter or HR person and ask what the salary range is for your role. This first step alone will give you tremendous insight into where you fall in the range.
Everything is negotiable. Here are are a few things you can ask for, but sky’s the limit:
- A contract. It seems strange to negotiate your exit package when you’re excited to join a new company, however, it’s an insurance policy for both parties. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. It’s pretty standard in C-suite roles.
- Eligibility for parental leave. If it’s in your plans to grow your family, don’t make it so that your family has to wait a year before you are eligible. You can pre-negotiate this.
- Equity. Find out if it is available and then look up the going percentages in Pave.
- Flexible working hours. Set your boundaries and decide what’s important to you.
- Salary/Performance bonus. Always ask for more than you think you are worth. Use the benchmarks in Pave and elsewhere then add on a tax for your experience and value add. For insights on compensation equity, leverage the 2024 Definitive State of Women in Revenue report.
Remember: You’ve got this, and we’ve got you.
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