Nobel Prize Winner Claudia Goldin Studied Why Women Earn Less. Her Work Shows How Businesses Can Help Women Succeed

The reasons why women earn less than men are complicated, but not insurmountable.

Claudia Goldin is only the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics and was the first woman in economics to be offered tenure at Harvard. So it's fitting that the Nobel Prize committee tapped her based on her research about women at work.

Just what did Goldin study, and how can her findings help business owners reduce the professional gender gap?

The workplace values "greedy work"

Here is a snapshot of her research: Jobs that require "long and inflexible hours" pay the most -- Goldin calls that phenomenon "greedy work." In investment banking and law, clients want to work with one person and will pay a premium for those long hours and that dedication. Men have typically filled these jobs, while women have done the same work in less "greedy" environments -- typically, in smaller firms or different career paths. Why? Babies, Goldin found.

Women and men earn similar wages until a woman has her first baby. Then, the divide begins. Women take more time off for childbirth (naturally) than men do, even though men are also entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA time if they otherwise meet the criteria. Women work fewer hours after having children as well.

Goldin does note that fixing this doesn't require government intervention but does require a mindset shift. Is continuity and working long hours the most important thing in a business?

What your business can do to help women succeed

It might be, and indeed, couples can decide that dad will be the primary parent rather than mom. But there are some things your business can do to help reduce this gap. But even if a couple decides that mom will be the primary parent, or that neither parent wants to work long hours, your business is missing out on bright and capable people if you require everyone to work "greedy" hours.

Here are some ideas:

Focus on productivity rather than time-in-seat. Sometimes, people genuinely work long hours so they can brag about working long hours. Stop rewarding time-in-seat and reward success.

Hire women -- and men -- who have workforce gaps. Many employers hire people straight out of school with no experience but balk at hiring someone -- usually a woman -- with ten years of experience and a five or 10-year work gap. Yes, these women are not at the same level as their counterparts who stayed in the workforce for the entire period. But certainly, they can perform at the level they did before taking that motherhood pause. And with added years of wisdom and the skills gained in hard-core parenthood, she'll catch up.

Remote work makes a difference. Goldin's research found that women value "temporal flexibility" above pay. Working from home allows more temporal flexibility, as you don't have to spend all that time commuting.

Allow jobsharing. I had the wonderful experience working in a job share when my kids were little. My partner, Patti Schuler, and I handled complex HR issues quite seamlessly. We kept each other fully informed and shared an email box so we knew what was going on. Goldin praises this type of setup, saying,

"If a job could be handed off from one worker to another with little loss in information, then it would be less costly for the firm to provide the amenity of job flexibility because if one worker had to stay home to care for a sick child, another could seamlessly take her place."

Train your clients. Medicine has often long been a job that required greedy work -- long hours, and patients who want to see their doctors, no one else. Goldin, however, spotted a pattern in pediatric practices:

"In that case, it appears that many pediatricians -- independent of gender -- wanted more flexibility and formed group practices that enabled them to better choose their schedules. At the same time, their clients could get to know various pediatricians in the group, so their children would be less upset if the doctor they saw last time was not the one on call this time. The physicians were happier, and their patients were happier."

If you can offer seamless and flexible services, your clients can be satisfied, and you'll have a broader choice of candidates.

Support women in making their own path. Sometimes, whatever solutions your business comes up with won't be enough -- some women will choose to make their own path rather than continue navigating these workplace gaps and challenges. Sarah Davis, the founder of Inc. 5000 company Fashionphile -- and a long-time friend of mine -- shared that the wage gap motivated her to build her own company. Davis said,

In about 1992, when I was at BYU, I read the book "The Second Shift" as part of my women's studies minor. It really hit a cord with me and I have thought about it often in the 30+ years since. I was suspicious that the second shift that mothers put in created an even larger pay gap for women. This was a big part of my decision after finishing law school and passing the bar, to take the path of entrepreneurship that I did. In doing so, I felt that I would have more control over the very real pay gap that I'd be facing and I could also manage the second shift better, if I was fully in charge.

As Goldin has made clear, understanding why people earn what they do and what causes the gaps makes it easier for women today to tackle those problems -- and for business owners to consider if their policies are really for the best.

Article by BY SUZANNE LUCAS, FREELANCE WRITER @REALEVILHRLADY: https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/nobel-prize-claudia-goldin-why-women-earn-less-how-businesses-can-help-women-succeed.html