Aussies want to see their colleagues package
Contrary to the wishes of most employers 52% of Aussies would like to see a transparent salary policy in their workplace believing it would impact positively on their office environment according to the results of a survey conducted by leading career building and networking company LinkMe.com.au
Currently 22% of people know the salary of co–workers having found out from a variety of ways including: seeing pay slips, through another colleague, from the boss, the salary being revealed in the job advertisement or they were told directly by their co–worker. The survey also revealed that almost 50% of people lie about their pay to colleagues.
CEO of LinkMe Campbell Sallabank says: “Pay is an issue which is always going to be a matter of contention. Most work places have a confidentiality policy with regards to pay but this is problematic given that people are naturally inquisitive particularly in the workplace where they become competitive.
“Often what happens is a lot of Chinese–whispers and speculation.”
Reactions when discovering colleagues pay is varied: 7% want to quit, 12.5% become jealous, 14% want to approach their boss for a rise, 22% loose motivation, 27% become more motivated and 36% are not bothered.
“While having a transparent pay policy would both satisfy staff curiosity and make 27% of staff more motivated, these results show that it would alienate, de–motivate and create jealousy amongst roughly half the staff. Many employers feel this intuitively but these results clearly show the risks.
“LinkMe has previously conducted a survey on job advertisements which revealed that people want to see the salary on offer before they apply for a position. Things become interesting when advertised pay rates are public knowledge. Existing staff viewing these ads invariably try to infer what their new colleagues are earning.
“The most important thing about pay is that people feel fairly recompensed. Pay structures should be ’defensible’ and logical as the best insurance against negative side effects of pay details becoming public. Where pay rates are made public, employers need to be ready to manage the consequences and turn it into a motivator”, Sallabank concluded.
