Talking about how much money you earn with the people you work with may feel awkward, but it turns out, a lot of people think salaries should be discussed more openly. It could help encourage employers to pay employees fairly and promote honesty in the workplace, and new research looks at how people feel about salary transparency.
Self Financial asked 1,181 employed U.S. adults of different ages and income brackets how they talk about pay with their coworkers and if they think salaries should be talked about more openly. They found:
- More than three-quarters of Americans surveyed (82.6%) believe that salaries for all employees should be transparent in the workplace.
- But older workers are less open to the idea about being open about their paychecks. Baby boomers were the age group least supportive of discussing their earnings with colleagues (71.1%), while Gen Z was most in favor of it (85.7%).
- The highest-paid respondents were most willing to share their salary with coworkers (81.1%), while those bringing home $24-thousand or less were the least in favor of transparency (75.8%).
- Less than half (48.2%) of employees think their workplace has fully transparent salary policies.
- Nearly three-quarters (62.7%) of those polled have resigned or threatened to quit their job after finding out they were underpaid compared to a coworker.
- While a lot of people support salary transparency in theory, 61% of respondents admit they’ve lied to their colleagues about how much they earn.
- Younger workers between 18 and 26 are most likely to be dishonest about their salary(67.4%).
- People’s honesty about their paycheck tends to go down after they start making $50-thousand or more a year. Those with an income of at least $150-thousand were more likely than any other income group to lie about their salary (77.8%)
Source: Digg