Therese Sebastian, CEP
Managing Director, Valuation & HR Advisory Services
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Hear more from Equity Methods: Your trusted partner in equity compensation excellence.
Pay equity is about rewarding people for their work equally based on the value they create, regardless of gender, race or other factors that are unrelated to performance.
For such a sensitive subject, pay equity can create a significant advantage. The key is to avoid superficial analyses that create as many problems as they’re supposed to fix. That’s why it’s important to understand the job- and performance-related factors that can explain variations in pay. That way, you can identify ways to improve within the context of your specific environment—then, in plain language, update shareholders, employees, customers, and the media on your pay equity-related initiatives.
Need more? We’re here to help. See how we can help you understand and manage pay equity considerations or just contact us directly.
Navigating Illinois’ Equal Pay Registration Certificate: Practical Steps to Prepare
Therese Sebastian · 9/8/2023
Explore Illinois’ new requirements under the state’s Equal Pay Act and how pay equity audits can help employers prepare to comply.
The Times They Are A-Changin’: Pay Equity and Cohorts during Turbulent Economic Times
Josh Schaeffer, PhD and Michael Jaskie · 8/4/2023
A turbulent labor market can throw a serious wrench into attempts to achieve pay equity. Here’s why, and how to isolate key areas of concern.
Equity Methods Survey Reveals Contemporary Trends in Pay Equity
Takis Makridis and Saswati Sen · 7/9/2022
We asked 72 companies how they manage responsive retention, working locations, and other pay equity challenges. Here’s what they told us.
Pay Equity Challenges Amidst a Tight Labor Market (Encore Edition)
Saswati Sen and Takis Makridis · 6/28/2022
We explore how the Great Resignation, among other novel market factors, have added to the complexity of pay equity processes—and how you can get ahead of the curve.
Statistics 101 for Pay Equity
Josh Schaeffer, PhD and Saswati Sen · 1/23/2022
Embarking on a pay equity study? Here’s a primer on the statistics and other concepts that typically go into the analysis.
What to Expect from a Pay Equity Study
Takis Makridis, David Outlaw, Therese Sebastian, and Josh Schaeffer, PhD · 12/14/2021
Take a look at just one of the 40 questions we address in our newly released Pay Equity Booklet.
Pay Equity FAQ Booklet
Takis Makridis · 6/16/2021
Pay equity is a critical component of any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) platform. We spent the greater part of a year composing a detailed pay equity booklet capturing common questions and sharing our perspectives, with an expected publication date of September 2021. If you’d like to request access once the FAQ booklet is published, please request it here.
The 5 Ingredients of a Successful Pay Equity Study
Josh Schaeffer, PhD, Takis Makridis, and Therese Sebastian · 5/26/2021
More HR leaders and senior executives are assessing compensation practices and the state of internal pay equity in their organizations. In this webcast, we walk through the key elements of a successful pay equity analysis.
Five Big Questions Boards Are Asking about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
David Outlaw and Saswati Sen · 10/26/2020
What will the compensation committee or board of directors need to know about DEI? We unpack the biggest issues in this article for Workspan Daily.
Colorado’s Pay Equity Law: Is Your Company Prepared?
Therese Sebastian and Heather Fox Vickles (Sherman & Howard) · 10/19/2020
In this webcast, we discuss the details of Colorado’s enhanced Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and what this means for Colorado businesses.
Five Reasons to Review Your Job Architecture Today
Alec Katric · 10/12/2020
It’s important to keep tabs on your job architecture to make sure it’s keeping up. If it isn’t, problems will eventually surface.
The Questions Boards Are Asking about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Takis Makridis, Therese Sebastian, and Saswati Sen · 7/20/2020
As diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) become more and more the focus of public attention, we discuss the types of questions to expect from the CHRO, CEO, and compensation committee, as well as what robust DEI metric development and monitoring looks like in practice.
The Root of the Problem: Weeding Out Pay Inequities
Takis Makridis, Therese Sebastian, Saswati Sen, and Josh Schaeffer, PhD · June/July 2020
In this article from the June/July 2020 issue of Workspan Magazine, we discuss the practical considerations involved in remediating a pay equity disparity.
Pay Equity: The Tale of Two Genders
Josh Schaeffer · 6/10/2020
In these two videos, we review the various components of compensation and the statistical analyses that can help to explain variations in pay.
Promotion Equity: Linking Pay Equity to Diversity and Inclusion
Josh Schaeffer and Gavin Hagfors · 3/5/2020
In this blog post, we discuss what a promotion equity study seeks to identify, how it’s conducted, and what it can reveal about an organization.
5 Key Questions for Pay Equity Remediation
Therese Sebastian and Takis Makridis · 10/2/2019
Acting on the results of a pay equity study may sound simple, but it isn’t. Here are five common questions clients ask when the time comes to make those decisions.
WorldatWork Total Rewards 2019 Conference Roundup
David Outlaw · 5/10/2019
At the WorldatWork Total Rewards 2019 conference, the dominant theme was pay equity. Here are some of the lessons we took away.
Gender Pay Equity: 15 Questions and Answers for You and Your Compensation Committee
Takis Makridis · 6/25/2018
By popular demand—from attendees, that is—here’s an FAQ on gender pay equity following up our discussion at the 2018 WorldatWork Total Rewards conference.
False Positive, False Negative: Beyond the Surface of Gender Pay Equity
Josh Schaeffer · 6/6/2018
In this article featured in the June/July 2018 issue of Workspan Magazine, we make the case for rigorous analysis to help explain variations in pay, then discuss ways to form an effective plan of action.
Pay Equity Gathers Steam
Takis Makridis, Narine Karakhanyan, and David Thomas (of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati · 12/5/2017
While CEO pay ratio has dominated discussions lately, a much larger emerging issue is pay equity—statistically studying compensation throughout an organization to make sure there are no unexplainable differences linked to gender, race, or ethnicity. Here’s a primer on what you need to consider as you get ahead of this issue.
