Answering awkward questions about your gender pay gap

Hands up who likes answering questions.

I’m guessing nobody?

Hands up who likes walking into a room and not knowing what the conversation is going to be about? And what questions are going to come up?

I’m going to say nobody again.

I used to have this problem. In my former job, I used to not put myself forward for speaking gigs, not because I wasn’t confident around speaking but because I was worried about what questions would be asked and whether I would be in a position where I couldn’t answer… and, if I couldn’t, I would feel like I had failed. And then look stupid and as though I didn’t know what I was talking about.

All of these negative thoughts would flow through my head.

I see this same fear now with HR managers, HR directors, with whomever is in your organisation who’s been tasked with doing something about closing your gender pay gap. I see the fear of being asked awkward questions, either because you may not know the answer, or you do know the answer but you don’t want to be honest about what the answer is because you feel that it will incriminate some people or be pointing the finger and so on and so forth.

First of all, the awkward questions have to be talked about. And that is the beauty of gender pay gap transparency and is, in some ways, the reason why so many firms are resistant to it. But it’s like lancing a boil i.e. it has to be done. If you want to move forward, you need to accept that people could have questions to ask. It’s your job to have an idea of how you could answer some of those questions. Now, you don’t have to know the answers to everything. That’s impossible. Not everybody does. But you do need to be prepared to go where those questions have not gone before. That’s why they’re being asked. That’s why you have a pay gap. That’s why we’re in a situation where it’s now compulsory, because for so long, so many organisations just avoided these questions; avoided doing the things that needed to be done to rectify this.

So, my advice to you is to accept that you’re going to be asked awkward questions. There may be times where you have to give that uncomfortable answer. But it’s always with an end goal in sight. It’s not about finger pointing and blaming people or blaming certain; it’s about recognising that there are business behaviours that have been allowed to flourish, whether it’s intentional or not, and they have gone unchecked. As a result, you have pay gaps…whether that’s gender pay gaps, or ethnicity, or disability or anything else.

This is an opportunity; these awkward questions are an opportunity to lay cards on the table. The awkward questions give you the opportunity to then take action on the awkward answers because they’re the things that are going to drive you forward; they’re the things that are going to make the biggest difference in your organisation going forward. They are the things that are going to help you to be able to not only close your pay gaps, which is one aim, but to improve the experience of the employees that work in your organisation – whatever their background. Ultimately, that is what you’re looking for i.e. to be able to allow people to flourish and grow in your organisation. You want people to flourish and go as far as they want to go with you. However, in order to do that, you need to address those awkward questions. So don’t be worried about not having the answers to everything. But don’t be so afraid that you don’t allow people to ask you those questions, or you don’t give them the opportunity to do so.

If you’re really worried when looking at your data, sit down and ask yourself, “Well, what questions do I have?”; “What are the difficult questions that I have to ask about this?” And start to craft some ideas; craft what your answers are. This will give you an idea of what to say; and will allow you to prepare for the things that may be coming your way. Ignoring that or not allowing people the opportunity to ask only makes things worse. And it means that whatever actions you try to take next are not going to be grounded in reality. So, have a think about what those awkward questions are. And then sit down and start to brainstorm about what your responses would be. That will help to alleviate the panic and allow you to feel confident enough to give an answer. Have a practice and let me know how you get on!

As always, if you have any questions or need support on creating gender pay gap action plans, please do get in touch.