Jaclyn Margolis on Systematic Pay and Promotion Discrimination Against Women in the Workplace on HR.com

Recently, Goldman Sachs was ordered to pay a $215 million discrimination settlement to former and current female employees. At the heart of the case were claims female employees were paid less and promoted less often than their male counterparts.

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School professor Jaclyn Margolis writes that while the settlement may be surprising to some, the reality is many companies have inequitable pay and promotion policies.

Some forces getting in the way of fair policies in the workplace include reducing the likelihood of women advancing into management by having restrictive guidelines for promotions, using leadership competencies to evaluate potential candidates for promotion, and office politics.

Organizations can begin to move past these challenges by adopting qualification diversity, meaning that they should reconsider their leadership competencies and hiring/promotion guidelines to ensure they are not unintentionally skewed to favor men. Although this is easier said than done, the payoff can be huge.

Research has shown that having gender diversity in leadership can benefit all, from the company culture to the bottom line.

 Read the full article on HR.com.