Addressing Gender Pay Disparities on My Team

This situation requires immediate action while navigating several sensitivities. First, partner with HR to understand whether this is a systemic issue or limited to your team - they need to be aware of the legal exposure. Request a full compensation analysis by gender, experience, and performance across comparable roles. With this data, develop a phased equity correction plan with HR that prioritizes the most significant discrepancies first. When presenting this to leadership, frame it as risk mitigation rather than just an ethical imperative: 'We've identified a compensation inconsistency that presents both retention and potential legal risks.' Provide a concrete implementation timeline with itemized budget impact. If immediate full corrections aren't possible, consider alternative approaches: near-term spot bonuses for the most underpaid team members, special equity grants, or accelerated review cycles. Regarding your team, do not discuss specific salaries or reveal the spreadsheet was shared inappropriately, but do conduct calibration sessions to ensure performance evaluations aren't influenced by unconscious bias. Finally, implement structural changes to prevent recurrence: standardized compensation bands, regular equity audits, and elimination of salary history questions in hiring. These system-level changes ensure you're addressing the root cause rather than just symptoms.