What Managers Can Learn From Wal-mart's Trials
- September 1, 2010
Wal-mart is facing a class-action suit that alleges the world's largest company engaged in discrimination against its past and present female workers. The suit has lingered for nine years; last week Wal-mart petitioned the Supreme Court to review whether the suit can proceed as a class action. (The alternative would be to have one million separate cases. Yes, one million.)Whether or not the case will be handled as a super-sized class action, or as individual law suits, one lesson all managers can learn is to be on the lookout for any signs of discrimination within their companies. Here are three allegations levied against Wal-mart -- now's the time to take an honest look at your department or company and get your house in order. Be sure to consult your firm's attorney, too.
1. Look at wages. Compare what men make with what women make within the same title or responsibility level. In 2003, Dr. Richard Drogan, professor emeritus at California State University-Hayward, conducted a study on wages for female employees at Wal-mart and found that hourly workers who were women earned 37 cents less than men doing the same job. Full-time employees also saw a gender gap: women working at least 45 weeks earned approximately $5,000 less than male employees in yearly salary. Review the ranks and make any necessary adjustments; using a rubric will help justify any appropriate deviations.
2. Review job titles and responsibilities. Review employee longevity in relationship to job titles as well. Do you have productive employees who have been overlooked for promotion? Conversely, if there are employees who seem stagnant in their careers, determine why that's so. Are there legitimate reasons for any inconsistencies in pay scale? At Wal-mart, Drogin alleged that women made up 72 percent of Wal-Mart's total workforce, but only 33 percent of its managers.Such lopsided figures are worthy of attention.
3. Don't ignore warning signs. Often, these problems start off slowly. Often, one employee complains she was not reviewed fairly, and she feels rebuffed by management when she mentions it. Problems grow from there. Promote open dialog with your staff. If you can step into a situation early and address it equitably, you'll save yourself and the company a world of hurt later. One pitfall to avoid is to be afraid of promoting someone worthy because you are afraid of fall out. Always promote the best person for the job. But, in my view, if you are always hiring the best people for every position -- from entry-level on up -- you'll always have a pool of talent from which to choose. As a natural result, those promotion decisions will be gender-neutral.
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