Competitive workplaces, where employees compete for rank, bonuses, and promotions, are common in high-status fields like law and finance. But how do they affect gender equality in the workplace? While these environments might seem gender-neutral, they actually worsen gender inequality.
Key Findings from the Study
A new study with colleague Ragan Petrie, published in the ILR Review, sheds light on this issue. Conducted by economists who study workplace diversity and career-family conflicts for women, the research aimed to understand how competition at work affects people. Direct comparisons of people with more and less competitive jobs were avoided due to other differing factors, leading to the use of experiments.
Let’s take a closer look at how this experiment revealed an overlooked aspect of workplace diversity.
The First Experiment
In the first experiment, held at a college library, over 200 people were hired for a one-hour research assistant job, paying $25. They were divided into groups of four, with two men and two women in each group. The task involved testing a computer program used in economics research.
Participants were told they’d receive the $25 salary if they worked for at least 10 minutes. However, they were also asked to work as long and hard as they could, as their performance over time was important. In some sessions, a competitive bonus was offered: a $30 prize for the worker who earned the most points by clicking on squares on their screens. To earn more points, participants had to stay longer and try harder.
Results:
- Most workers stayed beyond the required time due to social and intrinsic motivations.
- The $30 bonus significantly increased work duration, with over half of the bonus-eligible workers staying for a maximum of 40 minutes.
- Overall, work times increased by 83%.
The Second Experiment
In the second experiment, over 700 job applicants were asked to choose between a fixed overtime wage and tournaments with varying prize levels while testing the same computer program. Both men and women were more likely to choose the tournament at higher prize levels, but men responded much more to rising prize levels. As stakes rose, the gap in gender equality in tournament entry grew.
The research shows that competitive workplaces worsen gender inequality in two main ways:
- Women are less likely to enter and persist in high-stakes tournaments. Previous studies also indicate that women are less attracted to competitive environments and tend to perform worse in them.
- Competitive workplaces increase work hours, indirectly affecting women’s careers. Women often do more unpaid caretaking and household work, making it harder for them to commit long hours to work. This creates “greedy” jobs demanding undivided commitment, a barrier to gender equality highlighted by Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin.
How to Promote Diverse Leadership
Leadership commitment is vital for driving change. Companies should:
- Set Diversity Goals: Establish clear diversity targets for leadership positions and hold managers accountable for meeting these goals.
- Mentorship Programs: Develop mentorship programs that connect women with senior leaders to provide guidance and support.
- Leadership Training: Offer training programs focused on inclusive leadership and unconscious bias to ensure that leaders are equipped to foster a diverse and equitable workplace.
Understanding the problem is a step forward, but solutions remain unclear. Workplace competition can drive profits and attract some workers, making change difficult. Remote-work technologies may not effectively eliminate long work hours and gender pay gaps in elite jobs. Encouraging women to enter and persist in competitive fields is important but not sufficient for their success.
Assuming that competition will always be a part of elite jobs makes achieving equitable workplaces challenging. However, employers might consider non-competitive ways to motivate workers, such as using performance measures that don’t rely on rank order comparisons. Further research into these alternatives is encouraged.
