Only One-Quarter of Employees Say Their Employer is Transparent About Pay

A new pulse survey by Salary.com reveals that employees perceive a pervasive lack of pay transparency and pay equity at their organizations. Only 23 percent of employees said their employer is transparent about how people are paid in their organization and that it is okay to ask questions about their salary. Meanwhile, almost half (46 percent) of employees do not think they are paid fairly compared to people in the same role at other companies and over a third (37 percent) do not think they are paid fairly compared to their internal colleagues. Against the backdrop of a heated war for talent, this perception of unfair pay does not bode well for organizations, particularly as compensation ranked as the top consideration of respondents when evaluating a company for employment. READ MORE

How New York City’s Salary Transparency Law Could Worsen Labor Issues in the City — and Benefit Remote Workers

A new law in New York City will require employers and hiring managers to include salary ranges for all job postings and advertisements.

The law, which was adopted on Jan. 15, is set to go into effect on May 15, and will be applicable to all employers with four or more employees. The goal of the regulation is to encourage pay transparency and lessen the gender pay gap by requiring employers to list the minimum and maximum salary that they would pay for each new position or internal transfer. READ MORE

It’s time to think differently about benefits and compensation packages

“The Big Quit,” also known as the Great Resignation, has had a dramatic impact, not just on employee turnover and the loss of talent, but across all aspects of business from supply chain challenges to workforce law changes, product pricing impacts and wage and benefit budgetary concerns. With turnover surging at more than 50% across the country, and inflation surpassing 7% at the end of 2021, it is important to look at the impact all of this has on employee wages. READ MORE

The Principles of Linking Pay to Anything

Rob Markey of Bain & Company's global customer strategy and marketing practice wrote a great series of Harvard Business Review articles awhile back on the perils of linking pay to customer feedback. As any of us who've considered using customer feedback metrics in incentive design know, this can be a potential minefield. 

Markey's cautionary advice on pay linkage is well written and worth our consideration beyond the boundaries of customer feedback metrics ... before we link anything to pay.

With that in mind, let's consider his five essentials — preconditions for trust and credibility — in the context of broader compensation design: READ MORE

Half of U.S. mom-and-pop businesses handed out raises during the Omicron labor shortage

Half of all small-business owners gave raises to employees in January, the highest number in 48 years, fueled by the Omicron variant slamming the labor market.

An additional 27% of small businesses plan to raise worker compensation within the next three months, according to a Thursday survey from business advocacy group the National Federation of Independent Business. READ MORE

There's a better path than regulation to fix stock buybacks

The SEC recently has proposed rules designed to hamper corporations’ repurchases of their own shares, a practice that boosts share prices, providing enormous benefits to investors. The proposed rules will require the company to report the share repurchase within a day of the transaction, rather than the current practice of a quarter-long delay. Additionally, the proposed reporting would be more comprehensive. READ MORE

Why rapid wage growth makes the Fed nervous

The startlingly rapid pace of job creation in January captured all the headlines Friday. But other details contain the biggest implications for markets in the months ahead: namely, wage growth.

Why it matters: Wages soared last month, great news for workers seeking bigger raises that help keep up with inflation. But that could fuel higher inflation in the future and prompt a more aggressive response from the Federal Reserve. READ MORE

Biden steps out of bounds with his wage hike for federal contractors

As ordered by the Biden administration, the Department of Labor’s new minimum wage hike, which requires federal agencies to pay their contractors a $15-per-hour minimum wage, has officially taken effect.  

At first glance, the policy appears to impact only government employees, or at least that’s how it’s being presented to the public. But the fine print tells a different story — and reveals how much the president has exceeded his constitutional authority. READ MORE

NYC Job Salary Law Called 'Transformative' by Some, 'Unnecessary' by Others

New York City businesses and residents will see a change this spring when a new law forcing companies to post salary ranges on job postings officially goes into effect.

The bill was approved by a 41-7 city council vote on December 15 and went into law January 15 when Mayor Eric Adams declined to veto it. It prohibits employers from posting job listings without minimum and maximum salary information. READ MORE

A travel writer tweeted her salary and reignited a trend

When Victoria Walker traveled to the Caribbean this week, her plan was to unplug.

For three days, she'd relax on a beach in Saint Kitts, drinking mimosas and listening to the waves crash against the shore, in part to celebrate a new chapter in her life: The 28-year-old had left her job as a senior travel reporter for the Points Guy, joining millions of people in the "Great Resignation" sweeping the U.S. workforce. READ MORE

What’s the salary of a chief security officer?

With a challenging job market and an ever-present skills gap within the security industry, prospective employees and students determining their career trajectories want to know: “What does the compensation look like?” While salary and compensation won’t prevent burnout or reduce on-the-job stress levels, it’s certainly an important metric within the industry that allows security peers to see where their position lies within the average. It can also be an attractive selling point for recruiting others into the industry. READ MORE

SEC Commissioner Lee Suggests Role for ESG in Executive Pay

SEC Commissioner Alison Herren Lee recently availed herself of the opportunity presented by the re-opening of the comment file on the Dodd-Frank rule "requiring companies to disclose the relationship between executive compensation actually paid and the financial performance of the company" to invite comments opining on "performance metrics related to, for example, climate, diversity, and other company-specific ESG goals." In other words, SEC Commissioner Lee has used her platform at the SEC to provide public support for the notion that executive pay at regulated companies should take into account the implementation of ESG goals. READ MORE