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Source: ONE News
Women need to be more confident in promoting themselves if they want to overcome perceptions of pay inequality, says a senior recruitment consultant.
A recent international survey by recruitment agency Robert Half showed that 65% of New Zealand women thought that men were paid more than women doing the same job.
Megan Alexander, a senior manager at Robert Half in Auckland, says she does not see pay discrimination happening, but that "perception is a reality".
And, she often sees female candidates underselling themselves.
"I do think that women need to learn to sell themselves better...they don't talk about what they can bring to the role enough," she says.
Alexander says she also sees this in pay reviews, with women tending not to self-promote and therefore not getting recognition.
She says employers can help by openly communicating with female employees about what their aspirations are, what their career paths could be, and what they need to do to achieve them.
There can also be more men and fewer women vying for higher paying jobs as a result of women taking themselves out of the running because of other choices they make in their personal lives.
She says it is important for women to get appropriate mentoring from people who can help them balance their career and personal aspirations.
There is an opportunity for women to balance their aspirations if employers are open to ideas such as job sharing or more flexible working hours.
Alexander thinks many organisations dismiss these ideas,
believing they won't work.
