Pay transparency is a new and developing aspect of businesses. It enables employers and employees to see what each other’s salaries are in an open and unrestricted manner. Pay transparency enables businesses to be more open and cohesive with their employees which in turn produces a range of benefits.
What are the benefits?
1. Fights gender inequality and other discrimination
Having pay transparency in your business enables employees to raise any issues in pay inequality based on gender. With increasing issues of gender inequality in the workplace, pay transparency will definitely help in solving these. Further, with a more transparent workplace in terms of salaries, it means that businesses will not be purposely creating any gender gaps. This helps fight gender inequality as well as show employees that the business is appropriately setting their salaries. Additionally, if women are being paid less than men in the same occupation and level then they will be more confident to confront their employers regarding any pay discrepancy. This creates a better chance for those who are suffering from gender pay gaps to be able to confidently report this to their employer and ask for an equal salary or better benefits. For more information on equal pay click here.
Pay transparency also reduces the risk of other forms of discrimination based upon aspects such as sexual orientation, race and religion. Instead of allowing discriminatory practices to occur in the workplace, pay transparency promotes a more diverse and all-inclusive workplace. In fact, it is a significant feature of being compliant with anti-discrimination legislation in the workplace overall.
2. Better workplace culture
Pay transparency creates a better more supportive culture in the workplace. Being more open and public to the salaries of employees and employers creates a more inclusive environment. As a result, employees feel valued as they can easily compare their salary in the workplace. Further, inclusiveness builds a better foundation for the business as a whole. With a better workplace culture, there comes better teamwork, understanding and development of professional relationships in the workplace. Workplace culture is just as important as other aspects of running a business and significantly contributes to the way a business operates. A business’ workplace is a reflection of how employees treat themselves and each other.
3. Increase in trust
With a more open and transparent workplace, employees begin to feel valued and trusted. This enables employees to trust their employers to a higher extent. This means that both employers and employees are able to build their relationship based off a stronger foundation of trust. Pay transparency is a rare thing even now, so your employees would feel a different level of trust and respect that your business out of many is incorporating pay transparency in the workplace. Subsequently, an increase in trust not only creates mutual respect between employees and employers but also builds better relationships in teams.
4. Higher productivity
With a better workplace culture and an increase in trust, this leads to the most obvious benefit: higher productivity. For example, this is how it might play out, if someone doesn’t know their colleagues pay then they may be under the impression that they are earning more and, thus, not want to work as hard. Transparency eliminates any doubt as to colleague pay. Thus, enabling a boost in morale and productivity as well as how effectively the business can run. With higher levels of productivity this allows better teamwork and better results to be achieved. Therefore, results in lower rates of employee turnover as well as higher rates of promoting employees.
Key takeaways
Implementing pay transparency in your business creates a number of benefits. These include:
- Fighting gender and other forms of discrimination
- Better workplace culture
- Increase in trust and
- Higher levels of productivity.
As always though, it’s most important that if pay transparency is something you are considering then seeking a specialised business lawyer is your best option. Lawpath has Australia’s largest lawyer marketplace where you can submit a free quote and see what prices come back to you.
