How to Deal With a Glass Ceiling

When many of us hear "glass ceiling", we think of gender discrimination. Most specifically, the baseline change in salaries across the board for women. But a glass ceiling can be a more general term for any kind of workplace discrimination. A glass ceiling is a fancy way to say "The Man's keepin' ya down," and dealing with this often seen reality of a work place means looking at the situation from a variety of angles.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Advocate on the edges. Going in to a company's hierarchy complaining about a glass ceiling is not likely to be taken seriously. If you really want to advocate for yourself or others, find a way to do it outside of the work arena, to push the collective ceiling higher, while maintaining your own work ethic and being rewarded for it.
2. Evaluate your reasons for being affected by a glass ceiling in your industry. Think about what drew you into your chosen field. Is there a way to pursue similar interests without having a glass ceiling hanging over your head?
3. Negotiate your own raises based on personal merits. Don't approach personal renumeration through a lens of a "glass ceiling" analysis. For your own purposes, act like the ceiling isn't there and continue to reach higher, using your own unique talents and abilities.
4. Go freelance. Switching employers or becoming an independent contractor may allow you to experience a greater level of on-the-job freedom or engage in more effective personal bargaining with companies. Sometimes, risk equals reward; you'll never know until you try.
5. Start your own shop. Many driven individuals frustrated with the limitations of their employers go all-out and start their own competitive business in their field. Some even play hard-ball with former employers, enticing customers away to their side or bottom-dealing in the community. The more aggressive practices are not always sound, but in any industry, you have the right to compete fairly for yourself, and when you're in the driver's seat, there's no glass ceiling and nobody's holding the spoon.

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