Speaker 1: It's time for the b a qa A, the b
Speaker 1: a qa What to say? The b a qa with Manda,
Speaker 1: the ba qa and Tiffany A the v a qaa.
Speaker 1: What's up? Ba fam? Listen if you're watching on YouTube,
Speaker 1: I just want to say, don't worry. I have not
Speaker 1: actually been kidnapped by a Colombian cartel. It looks like
Speaker 1: I am being held hostage in the jungle, and I
Speaker 1: realized this is not the sweater to wear for this moment.
Speaker 1: But listen, when you share an office with two tiny
Speaker 1: children in the playroom, is looking ratchet. I had to
Speaker 1: turn myself around. Okay, but it just looks so sad,
Speaker 1: so sad. But we're going to power through anyway. I'm
Speaker 1: so happy to be here with you all today. I'm
Speaker 1: riding solo. I have two oof, big juicy questions from
Speaker 1: our be A fan. We got one from Julieta, who
Speaker 1: is dealing with a company that's asking for her salary history,
Speaker 1: like what is this nineteen eighty four? And then a
Speaker 1: future mom in distress as she calls herself, who's dealing
Speaker 1: with a huge dilemma when it comes to her maternity leave.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna jump right in, y'all, you got me
Speaker 1: Mandy Money, your favorite career coach. I am going to
Speaker 1: jump right on in. So let's start with Julieta from Instagram.
Speaker 1: All right, she says, ladies, I was part of tech
Speaker 1: layoffs and I was recently laid off from Spotify in November.
Speaker 1: I am very excited to be a few rounds into
Speaker 1: a new position at a different tech company. But they
Speaker 1: just asked for my salary history. I keep imagining you
Speaker 1: two looking at me and saying, this is when it happens,
Speaker 1: this is where the paid disparity begins. Girl, How should
Speaker 1: I respond? Okay, Julietta. When I saw your question, I
Speaker 1: was a little bit in disbelief because, first of all,
Speaker 1: asking for salary history is just I thought it was
Speaker 1: pretty well known at this point, way for the pay
Speaker 1: disparity to like never fix itself, to never be fixed,
Speaker 1: Like I thought that recruiting. I thought hr. I thought
Speaker 1: we all knew this. It's not cool to ask for
Speaker 1: your salary history, and in fact, in many states, it's
Speaker 1: actually illegal for employers to ask for your previous compensation.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read the list, Julietta. I wish I
Speaker 1: knew what state you were in because I could actually
Speaker 1: give you, you know, specific advice. But in many states Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Jersey,
Speaker 1: New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Vermont, Washington,
Speaker 1: and Wisconsin, they cannot ask for your previous compensation, Julieta.
Speaker 1: If you live in any of these states, and there
Speaker 1: actually may be a couple of more. I haven't updated
Speaker 1: this list for twenty twenty four yet, but if you
Speaker 1: live in if you need, if you're wondering if they
Speaker 1: can ask you for your salary history, don't answer the question.
Speaker 1: Go and check. I have to think that they're a
Speaker 1: big tech company. They know what they're doing. They should
Speaker 1: have a team that understands these employment law. But still
Speaker 1: it's worth looking into. Now, let's say that you're in
Speaker 1: a state where it's still legal to ask for your
Speaker 1: salary history. Julietta, your instincts are so spot on. Do
Speaker 1: not answer that question. They can't make you answer it,
Speaker 1: I would say, And actually, I'm looking at my nail.
Speaker 1: The Negotiation Script bundle. It has like twenty five scripts
Speaker 1: that you can use to negotiate, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: send you a copy because I have a whole page
Speaker 1: on how to answer questions about your current compensation. So
Speaker 1: let me quote myself. Here's what you can say. I
Speaker 1: don't feel comfortable sharing my current compensation as it doesn't
Speaker 1: accurately reflect my current market value or take into a
Speaker 1: consideration the unique duties and responsibilities for this role. That's
Speaker 1: a solid response. Also, I want to explain sort of
Speaker 1: why you don't want to answer this question. The obvious
Speaker 1: answer is because what if the job you're in now
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the job you're about to take.
Speaker 1: What if it's been a few years since you started
Speaker 1: at the job you're at now, and your salary, like
Speaker 1: your market value has increased because your skills are more
Speaker 1: in demand or there's more demand for workers who do
Speaker 1: what you do, but there's not that many workers out
Speaker 1: there who are doing what you do, so you're more rare,
Speaker 1: you're more niche. You don't want to base your current
Speaker 1: salary expectations on whatever you're earning now. Also, if you've
Speaker 1: been someplace for several years, it's just a fact that
Speaker 1: you're likely underpaid for your market value because when you
Speaker 1: work for a company for many years, you're getting those
Speaker 1: incremental little three percent lifestyle inflation. Not lifestyle you're getting
Speaker 1: those three percent cost of living increase in your pay
Speaker 1: to try to keep keep pace with inflation, which wasn't
Speaker 1: even doing that because of how high inflation had gotten
Speaker 1: over the past few years. So it's very likely that
Speaker 1: you've been in a job for the past few years
Speaker 1: and you've just been getting those standard cost of living
Speaker 1: raises each year. You're probably going to be worth more
Speaker 1: if you bring yourself out into the marketplace and start
Speaker 1: looking for jobs now and negotiating. That's just a fact.
Speaker 1: That's why I talk about the power of quitting or
Speaker 1: at least entertaining other job offers. You know, as you
Speaker 1: are working at your current employer, it's always good practice
Speaker 1: like take those job interviews, because you may end up
Speaker 1: getting to a space where they tell you what this
Speaker 1: expected salary range is. You don't even need a formal
Speaker 1: job offer at that point. That's enough in my mind
Speaker 1: to go to a manager, go to your boss and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I've been getting interest from a competitor. They're saying the
Speaker 1: salary range is X y Z. That's you know, twenty
Speaker 1: percent more than what I'm making here right now. I
Speaker 1: would love to stay. Is there anything we can do
Speaker 1: to increase my compensation? That is, that's one of the
Speaker 1: best ways, if not the best way to get your
Speaker 1: job to actually come correct and give you a big
Speaker 1: fat raise. Otherwise, like, what incentive do they have to
Speaker 1: just pay you your market value? Companies won't just do
Speaker 1: that automatically. You're going to need to show them that
Speaker 1: you actually have a concrete offer from another company or
Speaker 1: concrete data from your own research to justify, you know,
Speaker 1: the raise that you're asking for. Also, Jujulieta, what you
Speaker 1: hinted at in your question is also the pay disparity
Speaker 1: for women and women of color. Like, it's pretty well
Speaker 1: known that over the course of our careers, women of
Speaker 1: color we tend to be underpaid, definitely compared to white men,
Speaker 1: but also white women, we tend to be underpaid and undervalued.
Speaker 1: And if you started your career and let's say over
Speaker 1: the course of you know, the first few years, you
Speaker 1: are getting the lowest pay. You know, there's the hiring
Speaker 1: managers have a bias towards you. They don't think you're
Speaker 1: ready for higher pay, they don't think you've done enough
Speaker 1: for promotion, then that unfair bias is like baked into
Speaker 1: your compensation. And if you tell them what your current
Speaker 1: compensation is, that could just like continue the trend because
Speaker 1: they're going to base whatever salary they give you off
Speaker 1: of that number, and that number could be too low already.
Speaker 1: All right, So just remember this as you guys are
Speaker 1: out there, if you're looking for a new job, you
Speaker 1: want to forget what you're currently compensated at and do
Speaker 1: the research, do the legwork to figure out what the
Speaker 1: current market value of the role that you're going after
Speaker 1: is worth. Okay, Like I say, you know, my favorite analogy,
Speaker 1: You wouldn't put your home on the market, you know,
Speaker 1: ten years after you bought it and expect to get
Speaker 1: exactly what you paid for it ten years ago. Your
Speaker 1: home probably has increased in value right now you want
Speaker 1: to take into account. Okay, So what are other homes
Speaker 1: of a similar size and a similar zip code? What
Speaker 1: are they going for today? Not ten years ago? Today?
Speaker 1: So treat yourself the same way. And I mentioned job
Speaker 1: interviewing as one of my favorite, you know, top ways
Speaker 1: to get that kind of information about what your current
Speaker 1: market value is. But you can also use publicly available
Speaker 1: data from sites like Glassdoor, from payscale, from salary dot com.
Speaker 1: Asking your peers and asking people who work for other
Speaker 1: companies in a similar space, Hey, what do you think
Speaker 1: is a reasonable salary? Asking your peers what they think
Speaker 1: is a reasonable salary is also a great way. But
Speaker 1: I'm really glad that you asked this question. I wish
Speaker 1: they could have. I'm waiting for the day when this
Speaker 1: will be like a federally banned you know, a question
Speaker 1: banned by the federal government at the at the countrywide level,
Speaker 1: at the US at the federal level. But as it stands,
Speaker 1: many states, like I said, have been banning this. So
Speaker 1: check your state see what the laws are there before
Speaker 1: you answer this question. And like I said, even if
Speaker 1: it's legal where you live, you have to find a
Speaker 1: way to not answer this. Why. Okay, all right, thank
Speaker 1: you for your question, Julieta. I'm going to take a
Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll come back with our next
Speaker 1: question from future mom in distress. Oh, this is going
Speaker 1: to be a tough one, y'all. Come on back. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm back, y'all. Mandy and the stew writing solo for
Speaker 1: today's BAQ and a we have a question from Instagram,
Speaker 1: and this person wants to be called future mom in distress.
Speaker 1: It's already distressing enough being a future mom, like when
Speaker 1: you add career crap on top of it. Let's get
Speaker 1: into this. You can I got you? Okay? All right?
Speaker 1: You say, I'm having a Matt leave dilemma. I have
Speaker 1: been at my company for a little over two years
Speaker 1: and have been receiving positive annual performance reviews each year.
Speaker 1: I've been working towards the promotion, but my manager has
Speaker 1: been supportive and advised me to wait until this recent
Speaker 1: cycle to go for the promotion because of an arbitrary
Speaker 1: rule that I need to have at least two years
Speaker 1: in the job before being considered for promotion. As I
Speaker 1: keep working on my promotion filling in my latest achievements,
Speaker 1: turns out we had to change in management. All of
Speaker 1: the sudden, our whole team is being told we aren't
Speaker 1: performing at the caliber they expect and have even been
Speaker 1: threatened with something that sounds a lot like a PIP
Speaker 1: performance improvement plan if we don't shape up. This is
Speaker 1: all sounding very fishy and like they're on a path
Speaker 1: to cut staff. While all of this is happening, I
Speaker 1: found out I'm expecting a baby and I'm going to
Speaker 1: be out on maternity leave in just a few months.
Speaker 1: Aside from the threat to my employment and maternity leave benefits,
Speaker 1: I'm feeling stunted and unsupported in my career growth. It
Speaker 1: also sounds like they're building a case that would make
Speaker 1: a layoff during my matt leave legal due to performance issues.
Speaker 1: What is your advice on how to handle this situation?
Speaker 1: Aside from doing my best to balance performance improvement while
Speaker 1: I'm also nesting, should I start looking at other teams
Speaker 1: to get transferred to. Thanks for all the wisdom you
Speaker 1: share each week. Sincerely, future mom and distress whoah you know.
Speaker 1: I wish I could say that it was like when
Speaker 1: it comes to layoffs that companies are like, save the
Speaker 1: women and children first. But this ain't the Titanic. Okay,
Speaker 1: this ain't a shipwreck. And unfortunately we have seen you
Speaker 1: see the stories I've heard from coaching clients of mine,
Speaker 1: I've heard from BA FAM, you see it on Twitter
Speaker 1: on social media. They don't care if you got a
Speaker 1: bun in the oven, if the bun just came out
Speaker 1: your body, if it's due any day now, Like companies
Speaker 1: have no problem laying off working moms while they're on
Speaker 1: maternity leave. So even if you get to your matt leave,
Speaker 1: there's a chance you might get the news that you
Speaker 1: have been let go. That actually happens. I wish it
Speaker 1: wasn't so, but it is possible. So I think that
Speaker 1: to be realistic. You're seeing some clear indications. I agree
Speaker 1: with you that they are planning to be their planning
Speaker 1: to cut jobs in the near future. I would start
Speaker 1: preparing yourself for that for that to happen. I don't
Speaker 1: know what kind of severance you may get, you know,
Speaker 1: neither do you until it actually happens. But you know,
Speaker 1: standard like you've been there maybe about two years, you said, so,
Speaker 1: I mean you can expect probably two months of severance.
Speaker 1: That would be very you know, pretty on board. Maybe
Speaker 1: three months of severance. I don't know what kind of
Speaker 1: company it is, if it's tech or you know, financial
Speaker 1: or whatnot, but maybe two to three months of severance.
Speaker 1: So you know, that's something that you hopefully will have to,
Speaker 1: you know, fill in the gap while you're looking for
Speaker 1: another job. But there's no reason why you shouldn't be
Speaker 1: looking for a new job right now. You know, when
Speaker 1: you're interviewing for a job. There's nothing that says you
Speaker 1: are required to reveal to them that you are pregnant
Speaker 1: while you are in the job interview practice process. Now,
Speaker 1: you may choose to let them know that you are
Speaker 1: expecting so that they can plan your higher date appropriately.
Speaker 1: And a lot of great companies are out there and
Speaker 1: they will wait for you. You know. I've actually had
Speaker 1: a friend of mine who's a guy, his wife had
Speaker 1: a baby, and his company offered six months of maternity leave.
Speaker 1: It was Google. Okay, Google is just krem de la
Speaker 1: creme for benefits, right, But they actually said, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: your baby's do in August, so we'll put your start
Speaker 1: data is January. Okay. So that's an extreme example, but
Speaker 1: there are other companies that you know will say, well,
Speaker 1: we offer three months of you know, maternity leave. You
Speaker 1: can take that upfront, or we understand you can start
Speaker 1: in June and then you'll leave in July and come
Speaker 1: back in September or whatever it may be. So there's
Speaker 1: flexibility that can happen there. And if you're a great
Speaker 1: candidate in a job, employers are smart enough to know
Speaker 1: that you're worth waiting for. You know, it's better for
Speaker 1: them to take advantage of of a great candidate right
Speaker 1: now than to potentially lose you to someone else by
Speaker 1: letting you, you know, by letting you go, and then
Speaker 1: you'll you know, find another job and they'll still be
Speaker 1: looking out there. So that's a possibility for you as
Speaker 1: far as like how to handle this new management that's
Speaker 1: come into town and is now telling you that you're
Speaker 1: actually not meeting expectations. Take that for what it's worth. Listen,
Speaker 1: at some level, could they be you know, cracking down
Speaker 1: and really increasing their expectations so that they can identify
Speaker 1: the not the poor performers, but the lower performers so
Speaker 1: that they can you know, at least have some some
Speaker 1: data or at least some kind of justification when they
Speaker 1: do make those cuts. Now, that could very well be
Speaker 1: the case a lot of you know, you've seen with
Speaker 1: the tech layoffs that started kicked off for the last
Speaker 1: year and the year before, you did see companies going
Speaker 1: through and basically telling hiring managers like, we need to
Speaker 1: get a lot more strict with these performance reviews. Everybody
Speaker 1: can't miss expectations or sorry, everybody can't meet or exceed expectations,
Speaker 1: like they've got a lot more hands on with the
Speaker 1: review process so that they could identify the lowest performers
Speaker 1: so that at least when they go to make job cuts,
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, and I'm not mad at it, because
Speaker 1: it makes sense. It's better than just like having an
Speaker 1: arbitrary like if you started after you know, before this
Speaker 1: date or after this date, we're going to cut you,
Speaker 1: or if you're in this team, or going to cut
Speaker 1: the whole team. Sometimes you do need to trim the
Speaker 1: fat a little bit when it comes to your staff,
Speaker 1: and like trim staff who aren't performing well. That is,
Speaker 1: you know, that is a part I think of building
Speaker 1: and growing a healthy company. And it's also not fun
Speaker 1: to work alongside people who are slacking, right, So I'm
Speaker 1: not mad at it, and I can understand where it's
Speaker 1: coming from. I also I know how shitty it is
Speaker 1: to hear one thing from the manager that you have
Speaker 1: and then they leave. You get a new one and
Speaker 1: they've got a whole new set of rules. That's what
Speaker 1: happens in corporate, Like new management comes in, a new
Speaker 1: CEO comes in, you get a new boss, or your
Speaker 1: boss gets a brand new boss, and they're more focused
Speaker 1: on this thing, and all of a sudden, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: here was the here's the benchmark, here's the goal that
Speaker 1: you're trying to reach, except forget all that, we have
Speaker 1: new goals to reach. You want to be flexible, and
Speaker 1: it's good for anyone listening and especially for you future mom,
Speaker 1: to go ahead and get in the mind space of
Speaker 1: what I'm being told right now can totally change. It's
Speaker 1: going to make you a better employee. Like bosses are
Speaker 1: going to love it when you just go with the
Speaker 1: flow and you understand that things can change. You know, companies,
Speaker 1: goals can change, companies, business model can change. And can
Speaker 1: you be flexible? Can you understand where it's coming from
Speaker 1: and make the changes that need or are you going
Speaker 1: to like be the person who's like, well it used
Speaker 1: to be this way, Wow, I don't like change. That
Speaker 1: is what's going to separate you from the kind of
Speaker 1: person that they want to keep around. They want to
Speaker 1: keep because they're like, Okay, this person is on board.
Speaker 1: They understand how the business works, they understand things may change,
Speaker 1: and they will roll with it. They will adapt, they
Speaker 1: will be flexible, adaptable all those things. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that means you have to be walked over, and certainly
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you know, you should be getting
Speaker 1: these like you know, feedback that's not constructive, or you know,
Speaker 1: being being told you have to reach these really high
Speaker 1: expectations that are like super impossible. No, we don't want that,
Speaker 1: but I do think on some level everybody should be
Speaker 1: comfortable with the idea that what you're being told currently
Speaker 1: in your job from your manager about what you need
Speaker 1: to be doing, what tasks are, you know, what your
Speaker 1: responsibilities you have, what the next six months are going
Speaker 1: to look like, that that can all change at the
Speaker 1: drop of the hat, especially when we're in sort of
Speaker 1: a volatile or a little bit of a volatile job market.
Speaker 1: Right now, let me see you say that you're feeling
Speaker 1: stunted and unsupported in your career growth. I'm I can
Speaker 1: see that. I also feel like it's an opportunity for
Speaker 1: you with this new manager coming in to express that
Speaker 1: and to say I hear everything that you're saying. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just want you to understand that the you know,
Speaker 1: previous manager set certain expectations and I work to achieve those.
Speaker 1: I would love some support and you know, love some
Speaker 1: support in some direction because I want to be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, rise to this level that you're expecting. Now,
Speaker 1: I care about this work, I'm invested in this work,
Speaker 1: and I you know, just show that you are. You know,
Speaker 1: you're listening and you're hearing, and you're open to the
Speaker 1: change that they're proposing, so that they are Like I
Speaker 1: said that, I think that'll help them think of you
Speaker 1: as someone that they want to keep around if they
Speaker 1: really are thinking about making cuts in the future. Sometimes, yes,
Speaker 1: it is about performance, but it's also about attitude and
Speaker 1: energy that you bring to the job. And if you
Speaker 1: keep that in a positive place, you show that you
Speaker 1: are open to the changes that they are bringing to
Speaker 1: the table, then I think you'll have a better shot
Speaker 1: of staying around even than the person who's you know,
Speaker 1: killing expectations but questioning everything, why are we doing this?
Speaker 1: Why are we doing that? Honestly, sometimes the best people
Speaker 1: to keep around are the ones who can just go
Speaker 1: with the flow. Okay, let me see, that's a lot.
Speaker 1: I know it's a lot to manage while you're also
Speaker 1: expecting a baby, But coming from so experience in that,
Speaker 1: I would say, do all the big things while the
Speaker 1: babies and it still cooking, you know, in the crackpot,
Speaker 1: because it's much easier to make those sorts of decisions
Speaker 1: before giving birth, at least in my experience. Like other
Speaker 1: moms may have different insights, but you know, your whole
Speaker 1: your whole biology changes after you have a baby. Your
Speaker 1: brain is like soup, and there's so much for you
Speaker 1: to be focused on, and you should be focused on that.
Speaker 1: You know that baby as much as you can. So
Speaker 1: I would really be investing more time into your networking
Speaker 1: right now, looking for your next opportunity, just having options.
Speaker 1: You know, if you happen to survive this round of layoffs,
Speaker 1: well there could always be another one, you know. So
Speaker 1: that's why I'm always encouraging workers to always be looking,
Speaker 1: keep your options open, keep your network warm, and by
Speaker 1: that I mean, you know, engage with people that you
Speaker 1: used to work with, let them know what you're up to,
Speaker 1: so that if something happens and you're going to need
Speaker 1: to be out there asking folks for referrals or asking
Speaker 1: folks if they know of anything open, it's not going
Speaker 1: to be the first time that they've heard from you.
Speaker 1: You know that they're actually like they remember you, They
Speaker 1: have a good experience with you, and they're going to
Speaker 1: be more likely to answer that LinkedIn DM or respond
Speaker 1: to your email at that point. All right, future mom
Speaker 1: and distress, I hope that you are taking care of
Speaker 1: yourself in all of this. You are growing another human being,
Speaker 1: which is you know, incredible but requires a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: But I know that you can get through this. I
Speaker 1: think you just got to change your mindset and be
Speaker 1: less about Oh but it used to be this way.
Speaker 1: Why are things changing? This isn't fair and more of Okay,
Speaker 1: this is happening. I'm going to rise to the occasion
Speaker 1: and make the most of it. But I'm not going
Speaker 1: to let them catch me slipping. I'm going to update
Speaker 1: my resume, I'm going to reach out to my network.
Speaker 1: I'm going to look for other opportunities. I'm going to
Speaker 1: check out the best companies with the best maternity leave policies,
Speaker 1: you know, in the space that I work in, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to target those companies so that I know
Speaker 1: I'm going to be going to a place is going
Speaker 1: to take care of me as a working parent and
Speaker 1: be unapologetic about that and getting what you need. All Right,
Speaker 1: I thank you so much for your question. I hope
Speaker 1: that that helps send us updates. We love hearing from y'all.
Speaker 1: Hit us up Broad Ambition Podcast on Instagram. You can
Speaker 1: slide into our dms there and so we just love
Speaker 1: hearing and sharing y'all's updates. So same for Juliet to
Speaker 1: let me know what happens with that job in tech
Speaker 1: that's trying to get into your business of your salary history.
Speaker 1: Mm mmm, that's not okay and future mom let me
Speaker 1: know what happens and good luck with everything. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, ba Faan again. Reach out to us. We
Speaker 1: are Brand and Mission Podcast on Instagram. You can also
Speaker 1: send us your send us an email at Brandnamission Podcast
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Until next week, see you guys. Bye,