by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

According to a new survey from the Financial Women’s Association, women who work in finance are still paid less than men for comparable work and have made little progress on the equal pay front since 1998.

 

96% of the 259 association members surveyed said that women are paid less. This is exactly the same response received to the same question a decade ago in the Financial Women’s Association’s 1998 survey. When asked about improvements over the last three years, only 10% felt that pay parity had improved.

 

The survey also revealed that nearly two-thirds of respondents consider their gender a factor that holds them back in their careers in the financial industry. Many cited a lack of access to decision-makers, mentors, or the type of assignments that are critical for career advancement. Some of the specific obstacles perceived as obstacles to women’s career advancement were:

 

• "Old boys’ neworks"
• Women failing to support other women
• Female stereotypes
• Family obligations
• Limited access to flex time/part-time
• Lack of political savvy and "ability to play the game"
• Ethnicity

 

Is anyone else starting to feel really depressed? I worked in the financial services industry for many years and I must admit that I witnessed a lot of these obstacles firsthand. In at least one position, I know I earned significantly less than a male colleague with less responsibility, fewer years of experience, and lower performance scores. I also remember well feeling shut out of the old boys’ network and many lovely specific incidents that I won’t get into here.

 

So I’m not surprised that these factors are still issues. I guess what bothers me is the fact that these issues are still so common. And the fact that there have been no improvements since 2002 (at least) despite all of the happy corporate talk at big companies about diversity and on-ramping and encouraging women leaders.

 

Is the financial services industry particularly unfair to women or is this a symptom of a bigger issue across industries? In my research for Escape from Corporate America, I was encouraged to learn about great programs to promote diversity and flexibility at many forward-thinking and employee-focused firms. Unfortunately, these companies seem to still be exceptions to the rule when it comes to fair treatment of all employees, regardless of gender and ethnicity.

 

What do you think? I’d love to hear from financial services industry employees about their response to this survey and whether they think the results are representative.

 

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

Sick and tired of long meetings that accomplish little? Wish there was a way to show your manager just how much time is being wasted by his obsession with meetings? Check out a nifty little application from PayScale.com called the Meeting Miser.

 

The application first asks you to enter your location, then the number of meeting attendees and their job titles. Then it’s time to start the timer and watch as the dollars in wasted salary add up as the seconds tick by.

 

I punched in the details for a recent sales and marketing meeting that I attended and the cost was $3.10 per minute (not including the consultants in the room, which probably more than doubled that rate).

 

For employees, meetings continue to suck time after they leave the conference room and return to their desks. Once the meeting’s over, they have to make up for lost work hours and catch up on emails.

 

That’s not to say there aren’t times when a meeting is justified. Some issues just can’t be resolved effectively via rounds of emails and phone calls. Sometimes you really do need to get everybody in the room and hash things out. But let’s face it, even necessary meetings are usually too long and constantly wander off-topic.

 

Here’s an idea for the next time you anticipate being trapped in a long and unproductive meeting. Launch the Meeting Miser surreptitiously and make a note of the final dollar tally. Later, share the horrifying figure with your boss in a diplomatic and non-confrontational way (remember — none of this is his fault in any way, of course) and offer to help brainstorm ideas for streamlining meetings (like cancelling most of them and keeping the rest focused on more specific agendas).

 

There’s nothing managers like more than an employee with a keen respect for the bottom line. You might just be able to reduce your meeting load and boost your reputation with the boss at the same time.

 

More Advice on Meeting Management

 

7 Ways to Avoid Pointless Meetings from Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog  — Great tips on how to make your meetings more effective (and, most imortantly, shorter)

 

How to Kill Meetings at Lifehack.org — Leo Babauta offers advice on avoiding time-suck meetings.

 

Meeting Tokens at 43 Folders — Merlin Mann at 43 Folders introduces a brilliant new concept — meeting tokens good for just 15 minutes. On a related note, Merlin and the creative people at The Mule have collaborated on this great t-shirt for members of the anti-meeting movement.

 

 

 

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

The battle for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States is almost over. It has been a tight race, but one of our esteemed candidates will soon have to admit defeat and, as they say in corporate resignation announcements, “explore other opportunities.”

Just in case Hillary happens to be that candidate, I have taken the liberty of brainstorming some fall-back career ideas for her. Sure, she’ll still be a United States senator regardless of her delegate count, but we can hardly expect Hillary to stay satisfied with that job for long. Besides, it’s pretty clear that a couple of years as a U.S. senator is not enough to get you into the Oval Office. Maybe it’s time for Hillary to try some more adventurous career paths that will position her better for her next presidential campaign.

(I will helpfully provide the same service for Mr. Obama, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Huckabee in future blog posts)

1) Become a Fashion Icon

 

 

Nobody rocks a pantsuit like Hillary Clinton. Now is the perfect time for her to launch her own line of fierce but professional pantsuit ensembles for the modern gal on the go. When you need to look authoritative yet approachable, you need to wear Simply Hillary.

2) Follow Al Gore’s Lead

 

 

No other failed presidential candidate has managed to reinvent himself (and until now, they have all been hims) like Mr. Al Gore. The man has an Oscar, a Nobel Peace Prize, and lots of fawning celebrity friends. If Hillary can find her own Inconvenient Truth, she might just be able to parlay it into similar icon status. There’s no need for Hil to gain forty pounds and grow a lumberjack beard like Al did, though it wouldn’t hurt to try out an edgier look to go with her new image as an activist.

3) Team Up With Rudy

 

 

Who needs politics when you can make a lot more money as a consultant? Just ask Rudy Giuliani. After leaving his post as mayor of New York City, Rudy established Giuliani Partners to provide high-priced consulting services to companies and governments. If Rudy can do it, why not Hillary? In fact, why not team up and do it together? A little bipartisan bridge building would make for good press for both of them and Hillary’s stake in Clinton Giuliani Partners would earn her plenty of green to pay for future campaigns.

4) Make Lattes

 

 

If Hillary really wants to know what makes Americans tick, there’s no better way to learn than spending some time behind a Starbucks counter. Shaking hands at American Legions on the campaign trail is no substitute for really getting your hands dirty at the espresso machines. Just ask Michael Gill, the author of How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else, who says his time as a barista taught him valuable lessons about race relations and the life of the working class.

5) Get Lost

 

 

What better way to connect with that key youth vote than by playing a featured guest star role on a popular prime time TV series? Hillary’s recent appearance on Saturday Night Live showed she’s not camera shy. I’d love to see Hillary show up in a recurring role on Lost –- perhaps as Mrs. Alvar Hanso or as a new Mrs. Robinson love interest for Sawyer. Then again, according to a recent New York article about Chelsea Clinton, Mrs. Clinton is a big fan of Gray’s Anatomy, so maybe she’d prefer to trade lines with McDreamy.

6) Get Real

 

 

If Hillary’s acting chops aren’t ready for prime time, there’s still a way to get TV attention and develop a following with younger voters. She can follow in the noble tradition of so many others with little performing talent and make an appearance on a popular reality show. After all, maybe Hillary’s tired of acting like a dignified, trustworthy public servant and is itching to bust loose. Maybe she’s ready to throw all of that dignity out the window and put on a show. She could strut her stuff in a sequined pantsuit on Dancing with the Stars or even mud wrestle for the affections of 80’s hair band stud Bret Michaels on Rock of Love.

7) Start a Magazine

 

 

If she opts not to rock Bret’s world, Hillary can always follow the example of the richest woman in entertainment and extend her brand by launching her own magazine. Hillary can become an even bigger household name by putting her smiling mug on the cover of H Magazine every month. She can even use the magazine as a platform for talking about important issues. Of course, if she wants to land the big advertisers, she’ll probably have to throw in a few features about her favorite lip glosses and Lindsay Lohan in order to keep things interesting.

 

Do you have thoughts on other alternative careers for Hillary Clinton? How about ideas for Obama, McCain or Huckabee? Which candidate hast the most promising career alternatives outside the Oval Office?

 

by Pamela Skillings      Send to a friend

The latest brief from the "Escape from Corporate America" movement comes by way of a great article by Liza Porteus Viana in Condé Nast Portfolio. The piece focuses on the growing number of Millenial generation workers who are quitting their well-paid and prestigious corporate jobs to pursue careers with meaning.

 

The story cites research that has shown that workers born after 1980 (approximately 80 million of them) care much more about how they spend their time on the job than about how much money they make. For the Millenials profiled in Viana’s article, it’s all about passion — passion so strong they were willing to give up six-figure salaries to start new companies from scratch.

 

In my own research, I have found that members of the Millenial generation are much more confident and vocal about their desire for meaningful work, but they’re not the only ones seeking career fulfillment. I interviewed professionals from all age groups who walked away from job security to pursue their dreams.

 

I think it just takes a little bit longer for Gen Xers and Baby Boomers to feel ready to make such a dramatic career change — most have been trained to climb the corporate ladder and many have been taught that job fulfillment is a selfish idea. Meanwhile, the Millenials have been raised to believe they can be whatever they want to be — CEOs, entrepreneurs,  or rock stars.

 

While some mock the Millenial sense of entitlement, there may be lessons that the rest of us can learn from them. I think it’s inspiring to see people willing to give up fat paychecks to try to change the world or at least find work that they love. Check out the links below to the web sites of the corporate escapees profiled in Viana’s article (you’ll find links to other great corporate escapees in my "Escape Artists" blogroll over there –> ):

 

• OldCampus.com — An online political hub started by former investment banker Manish Vora
• Change.org — A social networking site that connects people who are passionate about the same issues, founded by former management consultant Ben Rattray.
• GiveWell.net — An online hub for researching charities, launched by former hedge fund players Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld.