In Episode 6 of The HR Famous Podcast, long-time HR leaders (and friends) Jessica Lee, Tim Sackett and Kris Dunn get together to talk discuss pay equity issues for women, focusing on the recent court briefing filed by the US Soccer Federation that claimed the US Women’s National Team earns less than the Men’s National Team due to (among other things) “men having more ability, strength and speed” (yikes). All the issues you would expect are discussed, including horrible communications/PR strategies, the impact of Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) and more.
KD, JLee and Sacks also discuss a related issue – the efforts a couple of years back from Salesforce.com to tag its D&I focus on equality rather than diversity, and why that move was made and how it’s worked out for Salesforce, as well as ongoing challenges with the strategy.
Show highlights:
1:20 – KD asks JLee and Tim about their work from home strategy in the coming weeks.
4:30 – KD talks about his cord cutting that happened right before the need to work from home more, his move to YouTubeTV and the millennial who sold him on the merits of the solution. Tim talks about the fact his first Netflix password was actually from the girlfriend of one of his sons.
7:40 – The gang breaks down the recent news from the legal proceedings between the US Soccer Federation and the US Women’s Soccer Team – a recent court brief from the Federation that outlined one of the reasons men’s national team members get paid more that women’s national team members – “men have more ability, strength and speed, therefore they should be paid more”. Wow.
9:52 -JLee takes on the president of the US Soccer Federation (the one that resigned) for not reading the press briefing from the US Soccer Federation. JLee also breaks down the math between the speed gap vs the pay gap.
11:50 – Tim Sackett HAS READ THE ENTIRE COURT BRIEFING. It’s 30 pages according to Tim – double-spaced! Not hard to read through. Tim take a shot at the Federation board that called for the president to resign, stating they didn’t read it either. WTF. Tim talks about the fact that pay and benefits for the women’s team is collectively bargained (CBA) as part of a union contract and the court will be unlikely to overturn the agreement.
20:05 – JLee disagrees with the fact that the court briefing is a breakdown of communications strategy, instead pointing out the fact that given the depth of the comments in the briefing, it’s pure sexism and misogyny – it’s what the US Soccer Federations actually believes.
20:45 – The gang talks about the fact that they like watching the Women’s National Team in soccer over the Men’s National team.
21:40 – JLee and KD talk about the Salesforce pivot from solely D&I focus to more of an “Equality” focus. JLee talks about the Asian influence in diversity hiring for tech companies in the Bay area, and points out that closely the gender pay gap is great, but the results can slip over time.
28:05 – Tim and JLee break down what they’re going to get caught up on as the world slows down a bit based on Covid-19.
The HR Famous podcast runs first on TLNT, typically Monday morning. Catch all the episodes or subscribe below.