Pay transparency within the workplace

Pay transparency within the workplace has become an area of great interest, particularly with the introduction of the EU Pay Transparency Directive last year.

There is currently no specific UK legislation around pay transparency, however, in 2017, mandatory annual gender pay gap reporting was introduced for employers with at least 250 employees.

Despite this initial step, many call for its introduction on a wider scale within the UK in an attempt to improve workplace communication and trust and to eliminate the potential for bias and pay discrimination.

The concept of pay transparency is that employers encourage the open sharing of salary information for their current and prospective employees.

Introducing pay transparency within the workplace encourages equality but can also have other benefits including greater employee engagement and retention, increased trust and the potential for more successful career development and salary negotiations.

There are plenty of ways that employers can improve and/or introduce pay transparency.

This includes advertising a specific salary within job advertisements, making salary ranges open access, and/or openly encouraging discussions around salaries within the workplace.

Employers looking to successfully introduce pay transparency into the workplace should consider the following steps:

 

• Developing a pay review strategy/policy that encourages transparency.
• Benchmarking and carrying out regular pay audits for job roles.
• Creating transparent salary ranges.
• Training managers on how to carry out effective salary discussions.
• Ensuring open and fair communication between colleagues and management.