We are so delighted by the worldwide coverage of our 2014 Salaries in Purchasing & Supply Management Report \u2013 one of the free benefits of a Basic Membership in the Next Level Purchasing Association.\u00a0 The publications that covered it include Supply Chain Management Review, Spend Matters UK\/Europe (twice), My Purchasing Center, Logistics Management, Supply Chain Matters, PI Window on the World, and Spend Matters.<\/p>\n
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Several of the reporters who covered this report keyed in on one of the shocking revelations:\u00a0 that female procurement professionals in North America are paid substantially less than their male counterparts.\u00a0 But beyond just summarizing the data, some of those reporters offered suggestions on how to use it.\u00a0 Spend Matters UK\/Europe\u2019s Peter Smith was one of them who did so most articulately.<\/p>\n
Our report \u201cmight be a wake-up call to women in procurement,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0 Women \u201cmight want to make sure you\u2019re not the victim of unconscious or indeed conscious discrimination in your organisation\u2026You might be able to use an external salary survey to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
I agree.\u00a0 Here are more of my thoughts on the matter.<\/p>\n
You see, people often benchmark new salary offers against what they\u2019ve always made.\u00a0 Employers also often determine a salary to offer to prospective employees based upon what those prospective employees made in the past.\u00a0 That is why they often request the salary histories of applicants.\u00a0 When that type of benchmarking is done, salary growth is restricted.<\/p>\n
As an example, when I was being pursued for my last procurement job before founding Next Level Purchasing, I had a slightly uncomfortable conversation with the head of procurement for that then-prospective employer.<\/p>\n
He had asked what my desired salary was.\u00a0 He then asked what my current salary was.\u00a0 There was a substantial difference.\u00a0 Not to sound arrogant, just realistic, I knew I was a rising star in the procurement world and knew what I would be worth to an organization.<\/p>\n
He responded to my salary demands by saying \u201cOh!\u00a0 My boss usually doesn\u2019t like to offer people more than 10% above what they are making.\u201d<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if that was an employer\u2019s salary negotiation tactic or the truth, but it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
I said, \u201cI already have a great job that I love.\u00a0 There\u2019s no way I\u2019d leave it for a mere 10% increase in salary, especially when I would be moving to a higher-level position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long story short, I got the job and I got the salary I was shooting for.<\/p>\n
However, if I had used my then-current pay as the benchmark for the salary I would accept, I would have been paid much lower.\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s the reason that \u2013 despite the immense strides we\u2019ve made towards equality in multiple forms in North America \u2013 women\u2019s salaries remain lower than men\u2019s as if was still the 1960\u2019s.\u00a0 Women\u2019s pay was lower before and, as long as historical pay is the benchmark for pay in the immediate future, women\u2019s pay will remain lower.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to change that.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time for a new benchmark.<\/p>\n
Our salary report provides just that.<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t gotten it, get it*.\u00a0 Use it.\u00a0 Change the world.<\/p>\n
*\u00a0 To get the report, log into the Members\u2019 Area of the NLPA website and, once logged in, go to the Library tab in the Members\u2019 Area.\u00a0 Not a member?\u00a0 Get a free Basic Membership at\u00a0 https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/procurement-association.php or a low-cost Premium Membership at https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/procurement-membership.php<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are so delighted by the worldwide coverage of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procurement"],"yoast_head":"\n