Nicole Lynn Peche
UX writer Kimberly Nguyen went viral on International Women’s Day with a Twitter thread about compensation transparency. Here, she tells her MarketWatch a side of herself.
Imagine this: You’re scrolling through LinkedIn and notice a job posting for the same role you’re currently doing as a contractor.
Apparently that happened to New York City UX (user experience) writer Kimberly Nguyen. He has worked as a contractor for Citibank (C) for the past 6 months through Photon, a UK based IT services and consulting firm. New York’s Pay Transparency Act requires employers to provide a salary range for open positions. Nguyen, who earns $85,000 a year as a contract employee, thus could earn from $117,200 a year to $175,800 for Citi to do the same job as her UX copywriter staff that she currently does as a contract employee. I found out that it offers
It was an unpleasant surprise. His 25-year-old Nguyen told MarketWatch in an email. “But I was also really grateful that the Pay Transparency Act allowed me to see that information because it showed me that I wasn’t really valued.”
Please note that Citi positions advertised on Linkedin are full-time UX copywriters with 5 to 8 years of experience. A Citi spokesperson told his MarketWatch. Nguyen is one of his 90 Photon employees currently serving Citi. project contract. The banking giant will pay Photon a market-competitive rate for its services, but Photon will be responsible for negotiating the contractor’s rates.
Photon was not immediately reached for comment.
After researching what UX writers were doing in New York City and realizing that “there wasn’t a single job for a UX writer that listed anything close to my salary range,” Nguyen spent some time He said he had been trying to negotiate a raise for a while. I am making it now. ”
She said the City manager was supportive, but as already mentioned her payment was processed by Photon and was unresponsive. “It’s a strange no man’s land for me to show up at Citi and do all the work there, but Photon is the one who handles my benefits and payroll,” she explained. However, it was contractors for perm positions who were told that the ultimate goal was to convert everyone to full-time Citibank employees.”
Nguyen said she sent Photon the data she found about UX writer salaries, and “actually requested a lower than market rate to follow,” she said. “They put me through this entire performance review process and pushed back the date I said I would be contacted. But I don’t expect them to give me what I asked for.”
Especially now that she’s the latest poster for pay transparency.
Nguyen vented his frustrations in a Twitter thread late Tuesday afternoon. “My company just posted a job posting on LinkedIn for the job I’m currently doing…and now, thanks to the Pay Transparency Act, they’re giving this person more than they’re currently paying me.” I just found out I’m going to pay $32,000 to $90,000 more,” she tweeted. “That’s why I applied”
And her experience resonated with people on Twitter — perhaps in part, this conversation about pay equality and knowing your worth at work hit in time for International Women’s Day on Wednesday. Equal Pay Day on March 15th is also a week away. So her thread went viral, and before she knew it, journalists had reached out to her and her company, wanting to know the full story.
“Honestly, I was expecting crickets,” she told MarketWatch. I wouldn’t be surprised if others had the same experience, but I’m surprised at how viral the tweet was.”
She said, “I believe my experience resonates because the work environment in America is changing and young people are really taking the lead.” We ask you to do more than just do the bare minimum for our motto: ‘It could be better’.”
But wait. We have others, too.
According to Nguyen, her employer later told her and other contracted UX writers that the job listing was supposed to be an internal post and was not intended for external candidates to apply. . conversion,” she tweeted. “But that doesn’t solve the fact that someone in the company is still trying to make her $32,000 more than she does.”
Several states, including California, Colorado, New York, and Washington, require employers to post salary ranges on their job postings to increase salary transparency. Disclosing potential salaries up front, rather than hiding them behind phrases like “competitive salaries,” can help reduce gender and race pay gaps and reduce wage gaps by showing people the value of their jobs. should help promote equality in
A Citi rep added that Citi has been displaying salary ranges on all U.S. job postings since mid-October, and that in some U.S. markets, job listings have been marked with He said he often exceeded salary transparency requirements.
Read more: Employers in these two states are now posting salary ranges in their job postings.Increased wage transparency for millions of workers
Opinion: Pay transparency is good for workers and helps employers attract more top job seekers
Unequal pay remains a persistent problem in the United States, where women earned an average of just 82 cents for every dollar men made last year. This is depressingly close to the gender pay gap of her 20 years ago, when a woman was earning her 80 cents for her dollar.
And the pay gap is exacerbated by race. A black woman earned only 70% of what a white man did last year, and a Hispanic woman earned 65% of what she did. Differences in experience, education, and access all come into play here, too, but the Pew Research Center found that evidence of employment discrimination against certain racial and ethnic groups gives workers opportunities to advance their careers and make more money. It is pointed out that it is locked out from
Read more: International Women’s Day: Over the past 20 years, the gender pay gap in the United States has barely closed. Why not?
But now, at least 1 in 5 Americans live in a state that requires pay transparency. That should help with the pay gap, right?
Nguyen’s experience with Photon makes her question how effective these policies are, and she appreciates them. She said her company held a meeting with her and her other UX writers to discuss the situation. “No one gets a raise. No one gets anything,” she tweeted. “Salary transparency for what?”
But she’s still grateful that the law exists. told MarketWatch. “And now I’m an even stronger advocate, because now that’s my own word for the company itself. I don’t have to make up numbers. I made it public.”
Nguyen added that her company is said to be currently talking about possible layoffs, and tweeted that it is officially looking for a UX writing role elsewhere.
She told MarketWatch on Wednesday night: [my workplace] Called me just 30 minutes ago to fire me. But I didn’t answer the phone.” She hadn’t answered them by Thursday morning.
Nguyen hopes to use his 15 minutes of fame for his new position. However, she admits, “She will think twice before complaining on the Internet in the future.”
– Nicole Lynn Peche
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03-09-23 1943ET
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