However, the factors such as less dedication to work, outside commitments and other factor strongly impact the contribution of women in the same work environment. As a result, comparative worth is extremely hard to practically and equitably implement within organizations.
Current pay equity research utilizes the same mechanisms of job evaluations as the basis to compare traditionally male and female jobs relative to their skills and responsibilities. However, these systems also commit the fundamental omission of intangible factors such as dedication and work intensity that should be an important determinant within wage selection.
The opposite problem with comparative worth implementation is also true. Managers who perform job evaluations are often gender biased, as a result it may at times be hard to determine the true worth of women within the criteria of comparative worth. The reason that bias exists within employee evaluations is the result of several different factors, first and most importantly the impact of male dominated management. The majority of management positions within the United States are still painted as an exclusive "boy's club." As a result, an implicit gender bias exists in many instances within the workplace. Another influencing factor is with cost-efficiency for most organizations. With any comparative worth program, a significant salary increase will result for the majority of women within the organization, as a result, the company's...
Many organizations institute temporary freezes or "short-term" scaling back of wage increases. Since such wage increases affects all workers across the organization, there is strong resistance to such practice. From this organizational perspective, creating a balance between current employee benefits and provision of gender equal wages is often an impossible and tenuous line.
In the final analysis, comparative worth is an idealistic strategy to gender equality in application to wages within the workplace. However, the actual implementation of such a system requires not only a strong criteria for judging comparative worth, but also a complete shift within the organizational and financial planning of a company. As a result, it is extremely difficult to implement on a widespread basis. Creating a clear standard by which to understand and frame comparative worth is the first essential step for HR managers to attempt to implement such a policy on a large organization wide level.
Jobs, Dollars & Gender: An Analysis of the Comparable Worth Issue in Urban Areas, by Charles Davis; Jonathan West Polity © 1985 Northeastern Political Science Association. Published by Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Implementing Comparable Worth: A Survey of Recent Job Evaluation Studies, by Elaine Sorensen
The American Economic Review © 1986
American Economic Association
