Though a stigma may be associated with discussing salaries with coworkers, pay transparency can be helpful for employees as well as employers.
According to Career Builder, pay transparency can come in a variety of forms, such as including salary ranges on job listings, making documents with pay and benefits accessible for every job in a company, and open discussions between coworkers about wages.
Pay transparency can help others negotiate their salaries to help ensure they aren’t underpaid and reduce racial and gender wage disparities. As for employers, employees are less likely to leave their current company for another if they see they’re getting paid fairly for their work. Pay transparency can also motivate employees to excel in their tasks and increase their productivity if they are aware that their company is compensating their workers’ achievements.
During the hiring process, listing a salary range can eliminate the time wasted considering applicants who don’t believe a company pays enough. According to Career Builder, jobs with clear salary details receive 54 times more applications than those without.
There are two federal laws in the US that address pay transparency. Executive Order 11246, which became effective in 2016, keeps federal employers from firing or retaliating against their employees who discuss their pay. Other employees who don’t work for the federal government are protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which gives workers the right to talk to their coworkers about compensation outside of work.
A number of states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland, have their own set of pay transparency laws. Click HERE to find out more.
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