Practice Management Member Conversations

Greetings! 

I would love to get some feedback here. As a primary advisor on pay, it is important to me to be as fair and balanced as I can across the board regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, preferences, or any other differences. I would be interested in understanding how you all think about this subject and how you use feedback and metrics to guide your decisions and if you have seen negative results from others that still progress the barriers. 

The gender pay gap in architecture refers to the disparity in wages earned by men and women who work in the architecture profession. Despite progress in recent years, there continues to be a significant pay gap between men and women in architecture.

According to "Narrow the Gap," Women who worked in architecture and engineering occupations made 83 cents to the dollar men earned in 2021. This gap is even wider for women of color, who earn even less than their white female counterparts.

There are several factors that contribute to the gender pay gap in architecture. One of the main reasons is that women are underrepresented in leadership positions and higher-paying roles within architecture firms. This can be due to a number of factors, including bias and discrimination, lack of mentorship and networking opportunities, and difficulty balancing work and family responsibilities.

Another factor is that women often enter the profession at a lower salary than men, and may have fewer opportunities for advancement and pay raises. This can be due to a number of reasons, including negotiation skills, unconscious bias, and systemic factors that undervalue the work of women.

To address the gender pay gap in architecture, there are several strategies that can be employed, including increasing transparency in pay and promotion policies, providing mentorship and networking opportunities for women, and implementing family-friendly policies such as flexible work arrangements and parental leave. It is important to acknowledge that addressing the gender pay gap requires a commitment from both individual employers and the profession as a whole to create more equitable and inclusive workplaces.

Any other thoughts? Ideas on how to improve?

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Mike Perez, AIA

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You asked for thoughts and ideas, so here we go:

It seems to me that the greatest level of fairness and balance for all people involved results from compensating according to the value the employee provides to the employer, independent of irrelevant identity classifications. And if the employee believes they can receive better compensation elsewhere, they are free to refuse it and seek that better compensation elsewhere. Or if an employer believes they can receive better value from a different employee, they are free to refuse and seek a different candidate. This competitive free labor market system assures that employers are rewarded fairly for the compensation they provide their employees and that employees are rewarded fairly for the value they provide their employers. It incentivizes better performance toward all by all.

This seems much more simple than attempting to justify the inevitable comparisons between employees and their pay levels, on ever-more-granular levels. And far less treacherous: In 2018, the BBC undertook an honest and ambitious pay equity project and found that more than 100 of the people needing raises to achieve pay equity were men (Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal

Thetimes		remove preview
Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal Male BBC employees received a third of the pay rises handed to corporation staff in the aftermath of the gender pay scandal, The Times can reveal.More than 100 men have enjoyed salary hikes after querying their deals through an informal system established by corporation bosses last year in an attemp View this on Thetimes >

). Five years later, BBC Studios was still getting negative press for their trouble as they were forced to report their gender pay gap continuing to move backward--almost doubling among senior leadership. (BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts

Variety		remove preview
BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts BBC Studios' median gender pay gap has increased to 11.2% in 2020/2021 from 9% in 2019/20, the company has admitted in a new report. Although the mean gender pay gap had reduced from 15% to 14%, the median pay gap - which, according to Imperial College London is "the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of men and women" - has widened by 2.2% in 2021. View this on Variety >

).

I think the best method is to ignore the identity distinctions altogether and compensate based on value, using the best means available to assure unbiased evaluations. And "compensation" can include incentives beyond wages or salary. A friend accepted a first salary offer but counter-offered for annual tickets to his favorite football game. And got them. What will motivate a candidate to join the organization? What will motivate them to stay? What will motivate an organization to make an offer to a candidate? What will motivate them to keep the employee on year after year? To increase compensation? To give promotions, better assignments, or perks? These are the questions that drive productivity and well-matched employer/employee relationships.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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The problem with that argument, as I understand it, is that it doesnt account for the implicit bias present in the hiring process and the lack of females and people of color at high levels in the profession who are in a position to be a part of the hiring process or be involved in determining what each employee's 'worth to the company' is. 

Also if I am reading that correctly the BBC gave only 1/3 of the raises to men which means 2/3 (the great majority) went to women who were underpaid. And we dont know what went into determining the pay rates of the underpaid men. Were they white men? People of color? Other disadvantaged populations? 

Any company that is big enough to have tiers of job descriptions should be big enough to establish pay ranges for their positions based on the various roles in their company that are equitable and ideally made public. 

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Jessica Saravia AIA
DMAC Architecture
Evanston IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2023 02:08 AM
From: Sean Catherall
Subject: Gender Pay Gap

You asked for thoughts and ideas, so here we go:

It seems to me that the greatest level of fairness and balance for all people involved results from compensating according to the value the employee provides to the employer, independent of irrelevant identity classifications. And if the employee believes they can receive better compensation elsewhere, they are free to refuse it and seek that better compensation elsewhere. Or if an employer believes they can receive better value from a different employee, they are free to refuse and seek a different candidate. This competitive free labor market system assures that employers are rewarded fairly for the compensation they provide their employees and that employees are rewarded fairly for the value they provide their employers. It incentivizes better performance toward all by all.

This seems much more simple than attempting to justify the inevitable comparisons between employees and their pay levels, on ever-more-granular levels. And far less treacherous: In 2018, the BBC undertook an honest and ambitious pay equity project and found that more than 100 of the people needing raises to achieve pay equity were men (Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal

Thetimes		remove preview
Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal Male BBC employees received a third of the pay rises handed to corporation staff in the aftermath of the gender pay scandal, The Times can reveal.More than 100 men have enjoyed salary hikes after querying their deals through an informal system established by corporation bosses last year in an attemp View this on Thetimes >

). Five years later, BBC Studios was still getting negative press for their trouble as they were forced to report their gender pay gap continuing to move backward--almost doubling among senior leadership. (BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts

Variety		remove preview
BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts BBC Studios' median gender pay gap has increased to 11.2% in 2020/2021 from 9% in 2019/20, the company has admitted in a new report. Although the mean gender pay gap had reduced from 15% to 14%, the median pay gap - which, according to Imperial College London is "the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of men and women" - has widened by 2.2% in 2021. View this on Variety >

).

I think the best method is to ignore the identity distinctions altogether and compensate based on value, using the best means available to assure unbiased evaluations. And "compensation" can include incentives beyond wages or salary. A friend accepted a first salary offer but counter-offered for annual tickets to his favorite football game. And got them. What will motivate a candidate to join the organization? What will motivate them to stay? What will motivate an organization to make an offer to a candidate? What will motivate them to keep the employee on year after year? To increase compensation? To give promotions, better assignments, or perks? These are the questions that drive productivity and well-matched employer/employee relationships.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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I believe it is unwise to attempt to repair a breach when one isn't sure a breach exists. It almost guarantees error. And if one isn't sure there's a breach in the first place, the consequences of unforced errors is more likely to be worse than the consequences of the phantom breach than not to be. Such is the case with implicit bias. Where there is evidence of bias, the bias is no longer implicit and it can be addressed directly.

In general, if the idea is to remove employee evaluations from the realm of the subjective, I have no objection to that. That can be done with value-based evaluations just as well as it can be done with identity-based assessments or any other less meaningful assessments. However, even objective evaluations are based on criteria crafted by humans. So, accusations of bias are inescapable. I believe the best path through that quagmire is to make the evaluations transparent and to adjudicate disputes openly.

My primary input was and remains to avoid manipulating pay as a means of social engineering and to avoid the temptation to use individuals as pawns in broader political games by viewing fairness on an individual basis, rather than viewing people as representative of groups and predetermining outcomes based on group identity. The negative consequences of this identity game include people being placed in positions for which they are not prepared, leading to individual and organizational failure; and capable people being passed over and leaving our organizations, resulting in a loss of talent and organizational decline.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-01-2023 05:49 PM
From: Jessica K. Saravia AIA
Subject: Gender Pay Gap

The problem with that argument, as I understand it, is that it doesnt account for the implicit bias present in the hiring process and the lack of females and people of color at high levels in the profession who are in a position to be a part of the hiring process or be involved in determining what each employee's 'worth to the company' is. 

Also if I am reading that correctly the BBC gave only 1/3 of the raises to men which means 2/3 (the great majority) went to women who were underpaid. And we dont know what went into determining the pay rates of the underpaid men. Were they white men? People of color? Other disadvantaged populations? 

Any company that is big enough to have tiers of job descriptions should be big enough to establish pay ranges for their positions based on the various roles in their company that are equitable and ideally made public. 

------------------------------
Jessica Saravia AIA
DMAC Architecture
Evanston IL
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 04-28-2023 02:08 AM
From: Sean Catherall
Subject: Gender Pay Gap

You asked for thoughts and ideas, so here we go:

It seems to me that the greatest level of fairness and balance for all people involved results from compensating according to the value the employee provides to the employer, independent of irrelevant identity classifications. And if the employee believes they can receive better compensation elsewhere, they are free to refuse it and seek that better compensation elsewhere. Or if an employer believes they can receive better value from a different employee, they are free to refuse and seek a different candidate. This competitive free labor market system assures that employers are rewarded fairly for the compensation they provide their employees and that employees are rewarded fairly for the value they provide their employers. It incentivizes better performance toward all by all.

This seems much more simple than attempting to justify the inevitable comparisons between employees and their pay levels, on ever-more-granular levels. And far less treacherous: In 2018, the BBC undertook an honest and ambitious pay equity project and found that more than 100 of the people needing raises to achieve pay equity were men (Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal

Thetimes		remove preview
Men receive third of BBC pay rises after gender gap scandal Male BBC employees received a third of the pay rises handed to corporation staff in the aftermath of the gender pay scandal, The Times can reveal.More than 100 men have enjoyed salary hikes after querying their deals through an informal system established by corporation bosses last year in an attemp View this on Thetimes >

). Five years later, BBC Studios was still getting negative press for their trouble as they were forced to report their gender pay gap continuing to move backward--almost doubling among senior leadership. (BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts

Variety		remove preview
BBC Studios Reveals Median Gender Pay Gap Has Widened by 2.2% Despite Efforts BBC Studios' median gender pay gap has increased to 11.2% in 2020/2021 from 9% in 2019/20, the company has admitted in a new report. Although the mean gender pay gap had reduced from 15% to 14%, the median pay gap - which, according to Imperial College London is "the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of hourly earnings of men and women" - has widened by 2.2% in 2021. View this on Variety >

).

I think the best method is to ignore the identity distinctions altogether and compensate based on value, using the best means available to assure unbiased evaluations. And "compensation" can include incentives beyond wages or salary. A friend accepted a first salary offer but counter-offered for annual tickets to his favorite football game. And got them. What will motivate a candidate to join the organization? What will motivate them to stay? What will motivate an organization to make an offer to a candidate? What will motivate them to keep the employee on year after year? To increase compensation? To give promotions, better assignments, or perks? These are the questions that drive productivity and well-matched employer/employee relationships.

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Sean Catherall AIA
Murray UT

This is an important topic, and as we see reports that support for and advancement of DEI efforts have been declining in the past couple years, something we need to keep aware of and share research and solutions. 

Here's what we did at our firm to combat pay disparity and bias:
- Eliminate number of year of experience, degree types, etc. requirements from our hiring process, and instead focus on skill, knowledge, and values/mission alignment
- Establish a single, living wage salary for all staff, recognizing all employees are valuable in their own ways
- Have our employees develop a performance evaluation system for which to receive bonuses based on their contributions - resulted in 5 overall areas of competence with 5 metrics each
- Use those same performance evaluation metrics to develop a Leadership Recognition Program, for which a certain average score over a defined period of time would make an employee eligible for leadership recognition and a 10k bump in salary

The result has been successful. It's a clear, transparent, and objective system built by and thus supported by our team, people earn enough to not worry too much about their income, and avoids competitive behavior fighting for "promotions" in a ladder type of structure. That said, for some it's still difficult to break free from the need to compare themselves against others, and requires more focus on one on one career support and development to keep their focus on being the best version of themselves. 

Would love to hear what others are doing, what's working, what's not.

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Leah Alissa Bayer, AIA
President, Architects FORA
President, AIA Silicon Valley
https://architectsfora.com/
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