Women more hesitant than men to negotiate a pay rise, adding to gender pay gap

According to a survey of 1,200 working professionals carried out by CV-Library, men are much more forthcoming than women when it comes to asking for a pay rise. The survey revealed that only 42.6% of women feel comfortable asking for a pay rise, compared to 64.1% of men. And when they do, they achieve less than men. Over half (51.3%) of women were most likely to get a pay rise of up to 2%, compared to 29.8% of men. Worryingly, men were consistently more likely to get a 3-5% increase or more.

Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, commented on the findings:

“In this day and age, it’s concerning to see that women are still holding back from negotiations in the workplace."

A further survey of more than 9,000 UK working professionals by Robert Walters revealed that lack of confidence was a key barrier to success, cited by 22% of women, compared to 13% of men.

Jennie Louwes successfully negotiated a higher salary after reading The Naked Negotiator. She comments:

"What "The Naked Negotiator" does so well ... is because it doesn't just give us bullet points of how to succeed. It doesn't just give us a checklist of do this, do that, then do this. No, it's brilliant because it tells us what to do in story form. When an author shares truth within a story, well, that's a truth that then sticks. "The Naked Negotiator" gets this right by sharing the truth within a story of a plausible situation where maybe we are uncomfortable asking for a raise, maybe we are uncomfortable negotiating, and maybe we don't know where to begin."

Whilst employers continue to have the primary responsibility for addressing the gender pay gap, women themselves can inadvertently contribute to the problem by being too reticent. The Naked Negotiator arms the reader with techniques and, most
importantly, confidence to tackle this most daunting of career challenges.

"The Naked Negotiator - How to Negotiate the Salary You Deserve" by Michael W Phillips is available at all major online bookstores and, at a discounted rate, direct from the publisher, Austin Macauley.

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