1940: The Science of Making Work Fair

So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Farnoosh Torabi

Business, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sometimes making work more fair doesn’t require a sweeping policy change or a million-dollar program. Guest Siri Chilazi is a researcher at Harvard who studies gender equity, workplace behavior, and decision-making. She is also the co-author of the bestselling book Make Work Fair, written with behavioral economist Iris Bohnet.

Siri’s work challenges one of the most common assumptions we make about inequality at work — that the problem is biased people who need to be “fixed.”

Instead, her research shows that unfairness is baked into systems, processes, and everyday practices — how we hire, evaluate, promote, pay, and even run meetings.

In this conversation, we talk about:

What fairness actually means — and how it’s different from equality or equity
Why traditional DEI programs often fall short
The small, evidence-based changes that make the biggest difference
What employees at any level can do to create fairer workplaces
And why transparency and clarity are among the most powerful tools leaders have

Learn more about Farnoosh's upcoming literary workshop Book to Brand. Early bird registration is now open!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	So Money episode 1940, the science of making work more fair.
0:06.4	You're listening to So Money with award-winning money guru Farnoosh Karabi.
0:11.2	Each day, get a 30-minute dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds,
0:16.5	authors, influencers, and from Farnoose yourself.
0:20.5	Looking for ways to save on gas or double your
0:23.2	double coupons? Sorry, you're in the wrong place. Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life.
0:29.8	Welcome to So Money. One of the largest employees in Australia, they noticed that internally
0:36.8	when women and men had applied to a leadership position, obviously one person gets a job, most candidates are rejected.
0:42.5	Among those rejected candidates, men were twice as likely as women to reapply for another leadership opening.
0:49.0	The organization said, we want to keep all these competent people in the pool, do we want to close this gap?
0:54.1	And they did something super simple. They were already emailing the rejected candidates saying,
0:58.9	thanks for applying. Sorry, didn't get the job. Please reapply. There's many different, similar
1:02.7	openings available. They added one sentence into the email that accurately informed candidates that
1:08.3	they were in the top 20%. They were in the top 20% please reapply.
1:13.2	And going back to our conversation earlier about the importance of transparency and reducing
1:17.2	ambiguity by being more transparent with folks about, hey, you're at or close to the top.
1:23.3	You actually have a realistic chance of getting another job if you reapply that close to gender gap
1:28.6	in applications. Welcome to So Money, everybody. I'm Farnished Harabi. You know, sometimes making work
1:34.0	more fair doesn't require a sweeping policy change or a million billion dollar program. Sometimes
1:40.1	it's as simple as one sentence, the right information delivered at the right moment,
1:45.5	and that can change who stays in the game and who quietly opts out.
1:49.3	That idea sits at the heart of our conversation today with Siri Chalazi.
	...

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