The message on International Women’s Day was clear: women don’t want cupcakes, women want equal pay. One of the ways companies can achieve quality is to have a transparent pay policy, Tracksuit’s head of marketing, Mikayla Hopkins told B&T.
“At Tracksuit we have an open comp transparent model. So everybody knows what everybody’s earning. And it means that there’s no way to hide. Which is yeah, a fantastic refreshing way of doing business”.
Hopkins has a lot of experience when it comes to helping women achieve equality in the workplace. Not only is she a female head of marketing at brand performance tracker Tracksuit, but she has also spoken to hundreds of women through her podcast: Her Career Podcast.
Hopkins describes the podcast as “one of the best things I’ve ever done in my entire career”, adding that money was something that came up a lot for the women she interviewed.
“I spent a lot of time helping women negotiate higher salaries,” Hopkins said.
Whilst money is a ‘taboo’ subject, introducing more transparency can help level the playing field when it comes to narrowing the pay gap.
“By creating and opening up a transparent comp model, we are hoping to make money conversations less taboo, and give our people a way to talk about their financial stability and needs in a structured and safe environment,” Hopkins said.
Some of the other ways workplaces can create a level playing field is by everyone being aware of their own biases.
“We’re all guilty of hiring people who are like us,” Hopkins said. However, being confident enough to call out non-inclusive processes is one-way businesses can make sure they’re hiring “a diverse pool of humans”.
For example, Hopkins insures impartiality by making sure she can’t see the name or the gender of the applicants who apply for a role at Tracksuit.
A biased hiring process is often reinforced by a biased rewards program, Hopkins says.
“You reward and progress like for like very often.”
One of the themes that often came up on the podcast was how women in leadership roles can help other women a few rungs beneath them.
Whilst it’s important that women help other women in their careers, Hopkins emphasized that creating an equal workplace is everyone’s job.
She remembers being at a conference several years ago where all the panelists were white men.
“The person who was speaking actually stood up and said ‘Hey, this isn’t okay,’” she said.
“He was willing to risk his seat at the conference the next year to call out the event organisers.”
“People who are willing to get uncomfortable in those kinds of public settings are the people that I want to work alongside.”
