The Problem

Everyone knows that, on average, women earn less than their male counterparts. But did you know that many women earn 20% less than the Caucasian men they work with? In addition, men of color earn 30% less than their Caucasian male coworkers.

Unfortunately, this inequality has remained strong and valid throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, even getting worse for some groups of people.

Much research has been done on the subject of why this happens. As a result, many actions have been taken in an attempt to reduce inequality. However, much of the problem remains unchanged, with recessions exacerbating the issue and creating an even bigger divide between groups of workers before returning to what we consider to be "normal."

Today we're diving into one of the main reasons why we just can't get a grip on this issue -- conscious bias. In general, people want to hire and provide good things for people who are similar to them. So, with the majority of businesses being owned and operated by Caucasian individuals, both hiring and payment are skewed by conscious bias, or the need to make the workplace as ideal as possible for Caucasian workers.

A 2014 study found that 83% of today's corporations are managed by Caucasian men. Since 2014 not much has changed, which leads to the question of what steps do we, here at ConnectE, take to reduce the size of the divide?

Our Solution

Well, first of all, let's agree that technology is the enabler. At ConnectE, we start with a level playing ground for all employees -- if you have the skills and experience, we want to give you the correct compensation and will do everything in our power to do so.

Using our method, corporations select candidates based on skill and the budgets they have for technical projects needing to be completed. Hiring managers don't know who the candidates are or what they look like until they have bid on the open and available projects -where the bids are based on skills and budgets as we said- and not gender or skin tone.

Using this method, we've witnessed a 30-50% increase in how much candidates are being paid, equating to them earning more money than they would have through a full-time job to which they were hired in the traditional method. Companies are securing the best candidates for 30% less in terms of cost, as well.

In addition, the talent in question have the opportunity to choose when they want to work, which is a big advantage for employees who have extensive home lives to manage alongside their career.

In general, Gig work platforms are a wonderful tool for bridging the gap between groups. They give everyone equal opportunity to land jobs, and because they are flexible and can be done at home, they also offer the potential for many workers to make more money than they would at a regular out-of-house job.

We have a campaign dedicated to women and diverse candidates. Qualifying workers can apply on our website www.connecte.co. The process is quick and simple, and gets your foot in the door.

Now that we've taken the first step to bridging the great divide, we'd love for you to join us! It's truly a win-win for everyone involved.

• More than 80% of today's relevant corporations are run by caucasian men.
• Companies using bids based on skill and budget instead of skin tone or gender see a cost reduction of 30% for hiring.