Take action: Four steps to address underpaid and undervalued labor
4 MINUTE READ Keywords: leadership, unpaid labor, undervalued labor, women in business
I love the attention this recent Adam Grant post is getting. We need to address undervalued and underpaid labor in the workforce, labor asked of and done mostly by women. Here are four things I’ve found to be effective as a leader to help move the needle on this issue:
Take stock & cut out unnecessary work.
List out all the “extra” tasks being done across your team.
Evaluate which of those tasks are truly necessary (tasks that need to happen for the business and your teams to run well).
List out who is in charge of those tasks (you may see a pattern…) AND get their input on whether they see those tasks as necessary or otherwise valuable to their job and/or job satisfaction.
For the tasks that aren’t necessary, cut them. Support and empower whomever is in charge of that task to phase it out.
Stop assigning tasks to the usual suspects.
Know who is doing what and look at whether there is an imbalance. Did you assign Margot to the fun committee and Bryce to the Biz Dev group? Does Kim have three internal roles while Cody has one?
For the tasks that are necessary, set and uphold the expectation that everyone on the team must fairly share those internal responsibilities.
Create “term limits” for these internal assignments so that responsibilities can rotate among the team.
Value internal roles with additional pay.
Tasha and Kevin hold identical titles and receive the same salary. However, Tasha has been assigned three direct reports while Kevin, who 'doesn't like managing people,' has none. You could force Kevin to take on managing people to make things even, but it hardly seems fair to his direct reports who would be deprived of a manager that really wants to do that job. Instead, for the internal roles that require a deep, thoughtful, and ongoing investment of time and energy:
Write clear job descriptions and requirements for those internal roles.
Always be transparent about pay. Include the additional salary or one-time bonus associated with the role.
Post and promote these jobs on internal channels and ensure that managers inform all qualifying direct reports about those opportunities. Maximize visibility and encourage interested individuals to apply.
Review applications as a leadership team versus giving one person sole decision-making power.
If it’s a big add-on to your core job responsibilities, it should be a plus up in your pay.
Talk to your direct reports & speak up.
Performing underpaid and undervalued labor is a huge energy drain for employees. I talk about my own experience with this in my book (I Am Enough, Chapter 11). As a manager, you need to:
Take the time to talk with your direct reports about the extra work they may be doing.
Be honest with yourself and with them about what tasks are viewed as promotable and/or are valuable for their professional growth and development.
Help them figure out which tasks should stay and what should go.
Have a handle on what’s been asked of your direct reports in addition to their core responsibilities so you can be a good advocate for their time and growth opportunities in leadership meetings.
