Strategies for BIPOC to Negotiate Equitable Pay

Author: Tutti Taygerly

A client of mine recently shared a conversation she overheard at a coffee shop:

Person 1: The recruiter gave me a reasonable offer. I’m happy with it, but I’m going to ask them to double the equity.

Person 2: Why double?

Person 1: I don’t know. Seems like a good negotiation tactic. Honestly, I’m excited about the offer already.

When you hear this story, what do you think Person 1 looks like?

Most people I’ve posed this question to picture a white man. If you did too, you’re correct. Each one of us absorbs and processes information as we move through the world. When I asked you to imagine Person 1, you most likely associated them with examples you’ve seen at work or in the media. Research shows that white men are the most likely to ask for a raise among racial groups and genders, and so it makes sense that you’d render that image.

My client, a woman of color, was in the middle of negotiating her own job offer when she overheard this conversation. The salary proposed to her was lower than she would have liked, and the nonchalance of the man’s words both amused and inspired her. How could she rise above this lowball offer, especially when she had the obstacle of implicit bias? If you are in a similar situation, the first step is to educate yourself on the racial wage gap.

Understanding the Wage Gap

Despite all the research, advice, and efforts doled out to lessen and close the pay gap, the earning differential for people of color persists. A big factor is the biases marginalized groups face during wage negotiations. Even today, people of color receive lowball offers that put them at a disadvantage and create a huge racial wealth gap.

Over a lifetime, this gap adds up to a loss for Latina, Native, and Black women of about $1 million. While Black or Hispanic job seekers receive lower offers than their white or Asian American peers do, Asian American and Pacific Islander women working full-time are still typically paid just $0.85 for every dollar paid to white men. They lose about $833 every month, and about $400,000 over the span of a 40-year career.

Putting gender aside, Black men also face biases during the negotiation process. They’re often perceived as pushy and penalized for bargaining. Altogether, these racial differences ultimately mean that women of color earn 40% lower minimum salaries than white men earn, and men of color earn 30% lower minimum salaries than their white counterparts do.

The Right Way to Negotiate

It’s important to acknowledge, first, that the only way to change the status quo is for everyone to openly talk about the problem. The more we call out discriminatory practices, the more pressure we put on organizations and leaders to solve them. Doing this will help empower people of color to self-advocate and negotiate without the fear of consequences. We also have to acknowledge that the problem is systemic; it is not up to workers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to solve the problem.

Even so, if you’re a BIPOC currently facing this situation, there are strategies you can use to up your chances of getting the salary you deserve. When faced with an offer that’s lower than your expectations, don’t shy away from (respectfully) pushing back. Here are five things you can do to successfully negotiate lowball offers.

Do the research

Recruiters will often ask you about your salary expectation at the start of the recruitment process. If you’re going directly through the company’s website, a hiring manager will typically ask you after the first round of interviews.

Before you answer this question, you need to know three things: the fair market value of the position, broader information about the pay gap for people of color, and the specific context for your role and skills.

Understanding the fair market value of the position can be done though a quick internet search. In the United States, for example, new salary transparency laws are spreading across various states and cities. As of January 2023, California requires employers of at least 15 workers to share the pay range when listing job postings, joining seven other states with pay transparency laws and following initiatives in Norway and Germany. While some countries have made pay transparency legal, other countries consider discussing pay openly an unusual practice. If you find yourself in a situation where the compensation is hidden, know that it’s OK to ask the hiring manager or the recruiter what the pay range is once you complete the first round of interviews.

Next, revisit your research around the race and gender pay gaps so that you have the most relevant background data in your pocket. Glassdoor, the Pew Research Center, the World Economic Forum, or country-specific organizations like Statistics South Africa or the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy are all good sources to find this data. This research is important because it will help you identify whether you end up receiving a fair offer or a lowball one. You need this information to advocate for a proper adjustment.

The third piece of research—understanding how much people make in your role and with your level of skills—is often the most time-consuming. Start having open salary conversations with the people around you, either in your current job or in related jobs across the industry. Having only a little data is actually worse than having no data at all. If you ask your friend from college what they’re earning for the same job, for example, you have only one data point, and that could skew your perception. Make sure you speak to a few people to reduce the margin of error on the insights you gain.

While you could try doing this over LinkedIn or in public forums like Fishbowl, it’s more likely that you’ll get a response by directly reaching out to a trusted colleague or a close peer in another company doing work similar to yours. These conversations can make people feel vulnerable, so be compassionate with yourself and the other person. You can acknowledge the discomfort by saying, “Hey, this is a little awkward, but I’m looking for a new job and hoping to learn as much as I can about fair salaries, especially since people of color historically have a pay gap. I’m happy to share my salary history with you. Would you be willing to do the same?”

After doing this research, you should come away with a salary range in mind, as well as a salary that you know you won’t accept. Plan to suggest a higher range rather than a lower range. Negotiating down is often easier than negotiating up.

Know your strengths

Think back to your former jobs or your time in school, and make an exhaustive list of your accomplishments. For example, did you manage funding for an event all by yourself? Were you in charge of the logistics for a new product launch? Did the newsletter you produced smash previous records of open rates and page views? Don’t just think about the outcomes. Think about the strengths and skills you had to use to achieve them, and write those down too.

If you find this exercise challenging, ask a trusted coworker or friend to help you. You might say, “I’m taking stock of my strengths as an employee and would love to know if there’s anything that’s stood out with you while we’ve worked together.” You could also use a third-party assessment like CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder).

Finally, consider how your identity as a person of color has helped you in your past workplaces. This information will give you both confidence and negotiation points. For example, maybe your experience with organizing meetups for people in your community while also delivering high performance at a full-time job shows that you have entrepreneurial skills that you may use in your next role.

Once you have a list of your accomplishments, review it and narrow down the skills and strengths that are most relevant to the position you’re applying for. You should be able to speak to these points throughout the interview process, especially when advocating for the salary you want.

Know what you want

When negotiating, most people focus only on compensation, like base salary, bonuses, a signing bonus, and equity. They forget to spend time thinking through other facets of work that matter to them. Don’t make this mistake.

In preparation for the conversation, think about the benefits—beyond money—that are important to you. These could include job title, vacation time, remote workdays, a budget for skills development or educational courses, and tuition reimbursement. Many people of color whom I’ve coached have negotiated on positional responsibilities and goals. This benefit includes a promise from the employer to meet a future head count, a promise of growth opportunities, a specific budget range for resources, or even the ability to mentor others.

Don’t accept the first offer

After sharing your salary range, you will most likely receive an offer. But remember, the initial offer is never the best offer. Most employers expect that you will negotiate and leave room for that.

On receiving the offer, you can inquire, “Is there any flexibility with this number? What’s the top and bottom of the range for this role?” Then wait to hear the response.

Most often, there will be flexibility and the employer will follow up by asking what you’re looking for. At this point, your research will now come into play. You can say, “Based on my research and my level of experience in X, I’m looking for an offer that’s closer to Y.”

Overcome implicit bias with directness

As a person of color, if you want to take the negotiation one step further, you can cite race, gender, and the pay gap you’ve learned about from your research and even your own experience in the workforce. If you’ve built a connection with the person you’re negotiating with, you can be explicit about the systems of implicit bias that BIPOC often face in these scenarios.

Bringing up these inequities will also help you gauge how much the company, or at least the person you’re negotiating with, cares about diversity. You should start this conversation with appreciation and focus on the facts—as opposed to pointing a finger at the person (which could result in defensiveness).

For example, you can say, “Thank you for being an advocate of pay transparency; it really shows that your company cares about the pay gap.” Then move on to your research. “You may already know that the latest statistics show that a Black woman earns 64 cents to the male dollar.” And then, end with the ask: “Given the pay gap, I’m hoping that you might be able to help advocate for some flexibility with my offer.”

Finally, as a person of color, you will often be playing the long game. You can take autonomy over the negotiation process by following these steps and making sure to ask for what you want. That’s what you’re in control of. You have influence over (but not control of) what you get back from the other side. The more you practice negotiating, the better you’ll get over time. Every time the racial salary gap is discussed, awareness increases, and that is how change begins.

Tutti Taygerly is an executive coach with 20-plus years of design experience across large companies, design agencies, and startups. She helps cofounders and tech leaders embrace their unique leadership style to achieve professional impact and build a sustainable company culture. She also guides “others” who never felt like they belonged in a professional setting—including women, people of color, and immigrants—to confidently share their voices with the world. Tutti is the author of Make Space to Lead and the forthcoming Hardworking Rebels: How Asian American Women Claim Their Integrated Leadership.