CREW Up: Working Together Toward Pay Equity in CRE

(From left to right) Kaitlin Kincaid, Wendy Mann. Images courtesy of Keller Augusta and CREW Network, respectively

Women earn 10 percent less than men in base salaries and 56 percent less in commission and bonuses annually, according to CREW Network’s 2020 benchmark study, conducted in partnership with the MIT Center for Real Estate. Moreover, when women ask for a raise, they obtain it 15 percent of the time, while men obtain a pay increase 20 percent of the time, Harvard Business Review research shows.

While it is true that younger generations are more inclined to ask for what they think they deserve than older generations—which expect their superiors to notice they’re working very hard and give them a raise or a promotion—there’s still a long way to go to close the compensation gap in commercial real estate.

To amplify the sound of women’s demands beyond the corner office, two female CRE leaders joined forces: Kaitlin Kincaid, principal & founder of search and advisory firm Keller Augusta, and Wendy Mann, CEO of CREW Network. Both of them talked to Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Calugar about the job market today, why women need to express their professional demands, and the active role that company leaders play in advancing an equitable workforce.

Here’s what you’ll hear about in this podcast:

• The CREW Network – Keller Augusta partnership (1:18)
• What studies show about the pay gap in CRE (2:08)
• Are women afraid to demand a pay raise? (8:23)
• How not getting a pay raise can impact productivity and overall wellbeing (11:56)
• How to ask for a raise (16:01)
• Keeping the conversation around equal pay alive (17:45)
• Why the demands of employees and employers are often misaligned (19:20)
• Is pay equity a utopia? (24:47)

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