Anita and Alex were childhood friends. They had a lot in common. They stayed in the same locality they went to the same school. Since childhood they were quite intelligent, they fared well in studies and sports. Many of their hobbies were also similar.
As they got good grades in school, both got admission in a reputed college of their city. The college was popular among hiring companies and most of the students used to get selected during the campus placements. In the last year of college studies Alex, Anita and some of their batch mates got selected for a multinational company through campus placement and they joined the company together as trainees a few months after their graduation.
Years passed by, both performed well, their colleagues and seniors appreciated them too. Appraisals occurred every year, but Anita was dissatisfied with it. The reason was that after all these years Alex and Anita had not grown at the same pace. Alex got promoted to a Senior Manager position, but Anita could only reach an officer level. Anita started to develop a sense of envy and dissatisfaction.
One day when she felt that the company was not correctly evaluating her performance and she was being underpaid she decided to meet her boss. She sought an appointment with the Head of the department and in the meeting, she complained that her managers did not value her hard work, they were biased against her as she was a woman and she had suffered gender pay gap.
The HOD knew that over the years Anita worked very hard for the company and to help her, the HOD asked her to do one last assignment. The assignment was to find out Designer Glass Dome Chandelier sellers in the city.
Anita returned and said, “Yes, there are two”
The HOD asked, “What is the price range?” Anita went back to her desk, she called the sellers and then returned to tell the HOD; “They are from $500 to $3500 depending on the size and detail in the design”
The HOD suggested Anita, “Now let us ask Alex to do the same thing”
The HOD dialed number of Alex and told him. “Find out where our company can buy Designer Glass Dome Chandeliers in the city and tell me by evening 4:00 pm”
The HOD asked Anita to come back just before 4:00 pm
In the evening as decided Anita reached the office of HOD and Alex too arrived shortly.
The HOD asked Alex to tell his findings.
Alex said: “There are three places where we can get the desired product. One is manufacturer and other two are distributors. The distributors get their product from other city and may not offer us great deals and their listed price range is from $500 to $3500, on this the distributors can offer 30% bulk order discount. The manufacturer can offer good price if we tie up with their company for bulk orders. They are also ready for creating designs specific to our company. We can sell these made to order items through our channel under our branding. Since the manufacturer now has surplus capacity they are willing to offer 45 % discount on listed price if we assure them order of 2000 units for the next quarter. This can improve our profit by 2.5%. I have put all this working on our department’s shared drive and can immediately mail you the link for reviewing it.”
After Alex left the HOD said, “You have now personally seen the difference in the outlook and performance between you and Alex. You should also note that other boys from your college who are not doing as well as you. Some of them were even asked to leave, though they worked well, as they fell in the lower bucket of the bell curve by a few points. You also have overlooked female employees in this organization who are at a higher level than Alex and many boys in the organization who are at levels lower than you. Nothing is stopping you or anyone else to upgrade themselves, each one of our team members can get a higher education, acquire more skills, etc. You have to see the complete picture and from others point of view too.”
Anita was now aware of the difference that she had overlooked. She now realized that the difference between her and Alex was due to the value addition they gave to this company and it was not related to gender at all. She decided she wouldn’t get fooled by the gender wage gap myth. She would learn from Alex and others who have done well in the company.
Let this story help us in going an extra mile.
We can’t expect to be rewarded for doing our assignments, as we get paid for that! We are only rewarded for going an extra mile; performing beyond expectations.
To be successful in life we should proactively be willing to do more, have a more holistic perspective, go beyond the call of duty and never fall prey to hate mongers who can only spread negativity in society.
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