How Do I Get Answers About My Pay Gap?

This article originally appeared in USA Today's Ask HR on July 9, 2019.

Question: What would be the best course of action to take with corporate HR after discovering that you are paid 10% to 15% less than your male counterparts who have the same role as you? You have the most seniority and similar background experiences, education and work experience, but you have more professionally earned certifications and credentials than they have. Additionally, you have achieved top performance reviews in all the years you’ve worked for the organization. – Anonymous

Johnny C. Taylor Jr.: Before talking to HR, you should consider talking directly with your supervisor. If there is a discrepancy, your supervisor might be able to intervene on your behalf.

If you aren’t comfortable talking with your supervisor, make an appointment with the corporate HR department for a conversation about your compensation.

Prepare for the meeting with facts and objectivity. Ensure the information you have about your colleagues’ work experience and wages was obtained appropriately and from an accurate source. LinkedIn profiles, for example, can be resources on professionals’ certifications and credentials.

Additionally, do online research and gather data on average pay ranges for your job, based on comparable knowledge, skills and abilities, along with education and years of experience.

During the conversation, focus on internal equity rather than on the gender of the employees involved to help avoid or reduce the tension that can come with questions with race, gender or other legal implications attached to them. 

To stay focused, draft talking points in advance, and make the meeting about you, not your co-workers.

Express to HR that you have questions about your compensation, given your awareness of your colleagues’ compensation, and you want to ensure you are being paid fairly and commensurate with your experiences and skills.

Depending upon what you learn, it could be appropriate to ask HR representatives if they have looked at all those who hold your job title and job code to evaluate internal equity.

To ensure compensation equity, companies should be transparent and share with employees information about how pay decisions are made.

Pay should be based on factors genuinely related to business, such as education, certifications, related experience, skills, seniority and geographic location. By law, employers can’t compensate people differently because of their sex, race or other protected, non-job-related characteristics.

But other factors can be at play, and you might not be aware of them.

For example, some of your colleagues might have been hired during a tight labor market and, as a result, were able to negotiate higher starting salaries.

And government contractors are sometimes challenged when trying to fairly compensate two employees who do the same or similar work but on different contracts that pay the employer unequally.

Remember, even if you don’t like the answer you get in the meeting with HR, at least you will understand why you are paid what you are paid.