By Rebecca Greenfield
Want to get ahead at work? The latest in business and management research says get a sponsor: someone who has enough clout to successfully advocate for you to the people that matter, a person who will recommend you for an opportunity that you didn’t know existed. In other words, a powerful ally on the corporate battlefield.
Not all sponsors get the same results, however. New research by salary website PayScale found that employees who have a white male advocate often end up with higher pay, and most of those employees are white men. Women — particularly black and Hispanic women, are the least likely to have such a lucrative connection.
Over the years, various studies, including one published in the Harvard Business Review, have linked sponsors to career growth. Access to powerful networks at work is directly connected to plum assignments, promotions and raises. But this research is the first to link sponsorship directly to pay, as well as to gender and racial pay gaps that bedevil the American workplace.
