Fair Pay: How to Get a Raise, Close the Wage Gap, and Build Stronger Businesses
Fair Pay: How to Get a Raise, Close the Wage Gap, and Build Stronger Businesses
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Publisher's Hardcover ©2021--
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HarperCollins
Annotation: Longlisted for the 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards, Management & Workplace Culture An expert takes on the crisis of... more
Genre: [Economics]
 
Reviews: 1
Catalog Number: #289178
Format: Publisher's Hardcover
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2021
Edition Date: 2021 Release Date: 06/29/21
Pages: 309 pages
ISBN: 0-06-299827-7
ISBN 13: 978-0-06-299827-9
Dewey: 331.2
LCCN: 2021002285
Dimensions: 24 cm
Language: English
Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Buckmaster, global compensation director at Nike, argues in his winning debut that America-s pay system is deeply broken. There-s no evil plan at work behind how pay is determined, Buckmaster writes, just business leaders who haven-t prioritized fair pay. Buckmaster discusses the deleterious effect of a low minimum wage (workers having to choose between paying for an education or their electric bill, for example) and writes that pretending that the free market will adjust appropriately on its own is a naive pipe dream. He also explores what the future could look like: greater pay transparency could help close the wage gap, and trade-offs (flex schedules, stock awards) that are a real benefit could be offered (instead of wispy appeals to personal meaning or a sense of pride in one-s work). Companies, he notes, must recognize the -outsize role they play in creating fair pay outcomes,- and he helpfully includes questions leaders should ask themselves (-How do we value jobs?- and -What do we mean by equal work?-). Buckmaster packs his work with insight, and delivers his message in a charming, funny tone: pay-design teams, for instance, are -the world-s least-interesting Illuminati.- This layperson-s guide will be a boon to anyone looking to understand the forces behind how that number got on their W-2. Agent: Laurie Abkemeier, DeFiore & Co. (June)

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Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)
Bibliography Index/Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Reading Level: 6.0
Interest Level: 9+

Longlisted for the 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards, Management & Workplace Culture

An expert takes on the crisis of income inequality, addressing the problems with our current compensation model, demystifying pay practices, and providing practical information employees can use when negotiating their salaries and discussing how we can close the gender and racial pay gap.


American workers are suffering economically and fewer are earning a living wage. The situation is only worsening. We do not have a common language to talk about pay, how it works at most companies, or a cohesive set of practical solutions for making pay more fair. Most blame the greed of America’s executive class, the ineptitude of government, or a general lack of personal motivation. 

But the negative effects of income inequality are a problem that can be solved. We don’t have to choose between effective government policy and the free market, between the working class and the job creators, or between socialism and capitalism, David Buckmaster, the Director of Global Compensation for Nike, argues. We do not have to give up on fixing what people are paid. Ideas like Universal Basic Income will not be enough to avoid the severe cultural disruption coming our way.

Buckmaster examines income inequality through the design and distribution of income itself. He explains why businesses are producing no meaningful wage growth, regardless of the unemployment rate and despite sitting on record piles of cash and the lowest tax rates[0] in a generation . He pulls back the curtain on how corporations make decisions about wages and provides practical solutions—as well as the corporate language—workers need to get the best results when talking about money with a boss. 

The way pay works now will not overcome our most persistent pay challenges, including low and stagnant wages, unequal pay by race and gender, and executive pay levels untethered from the realities of the average worker. The compensation system is working as designed, but that system is broken. 

Fair Pay opens the corporate black box of pay decisions to show why businesses pay what they pay and how to make them pay more. 


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