Negotiating your wage is never tricky, but for many people, the lack of pay transparency makes it very challenging. Pay transparency refers to how employers communicate about compensation. The negotiation process can resemble a poker game rather than an intelligent conversation about the worth of a specific function. However, if you leave a salary discussion still questioning if you’re being fairly compensated, that’s hardly a victory for either you or your company
According to the PayScale Compensation Best Practices Report, the main reason given by most employees for leaving their employer was “seeking more income elsewhere.” However, PayScale discovered in a recent survey that most employees are unaware of how they are compensated in relation to the market. And, if they guess incorrectly, they frequently guess they’re underpaid. Furthermore, employees who believe they are underpaid are 50% more inclined to seek new jobs. Companies that do not invest in pay transparency and instead guard information about employee remuneration may lose their best employees not because they are underpaying, but because they did not have better compensation communication.
Pay Transparency: What It Is and Isn't
Being more honest about compensation does not have to include publicly publicizing everyone’s salary, though some companies do. What it does imply is that employees understand their company’s compensation philosophy, strategies, and procedures.
In which labor market does the organization compete for talent? (In some circumstances, there may be several.) For positions in high demand, the company may elect to go up market in order to compete for talent with larger, local companies.) Is the corporation seeking to match or outperform the competition in terms of pay? What sources of remuneration data does the company utilize to evaluate the market? What is the salary range for your position?
There are different levels of transparency and each company is going to fall somewhere along a spectrum, but the pressure is definitely building for companies to become more transparent with employees about pay to a larger degree.
Why is Pay Transparency important?
Aside from making compensation discussions easier for everyone, pay transparency has several additional significant advantages for both employees and employers.
For starters, pay transparency can assist guarantee that workers are compensated fairly for equal labor. Data suggests that pay transparency reduces the gender pay gap. When there are fewer salary secrets, it is far more difficult for pay disparities to emerge. That is more equitable for workers and protects employers from potential lawsuits.
Second, salary transparency fosters trust. Employees are more likely to be fully engaged in their work when they feel valued and are not wasting cycles worrying about whether they are underpaid. Numerous studies have shown that a more engaged workforce leads to greater company performance.
Finally, compensation transparency improves retention. The data is unambiguous. In a report, participants were asked to rank their organization’s pay transparency on a scale of 1-5. People who thought their firm’s pay transparency was level 1 were found to be 183% more likely to look for a new job than people who thought their organization was level 5. Organizations that believed their organization was a 5 in pay transparency were 65 percent less likely to depart than organizations that felt their organization was a 1 in pay transparency.
As a result, firms that are truly committed to keeping and supporting their top people will strive toward greater transparency. Complete transparency? Perhaps not. However, the established best practice will change from where it is now. It needs to be.
