You Should Know How Much Everyone is Paid
Salary transparency can radically change a company for good—if it’s managed properly
You’re working overtime for five consecutive days, staying past 10 pm at the office every day, deep in the trenches. You swear your eyes are going to melt for the number of hours you spend staring at the laptop. As you look at the second hand travel around the clock, you start to wonder if you’re actually paid enough to do this.
The reality is, you’re not alone: only 19% of employees are comfortable with their salary, according to a 2018 Indeed survey. Though one can agree that salary isn’t everything to a job, for most, it’s what determines how satisfied they are of their jobs.
On average, the higher your income, the more likely you are to be satisfied with your job, according to the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Workplace Happiness Index. With a higher salary, you’re also less likely to quit—finding meaning in your job much easier too.
However, it’s very human to think about your salary after being in the job for a while. When your responsibilities start piling up—beyond your job scope even—and you start giving things up just to complete work, you might go: “Am I even paid enough to do this?”
Yet, not many people can know whether they are truly being paid enough. How would you go about with knowing it? Perhaps, you could set aside your co-worker relationships and broach on this sensitive topic. Maybe you could bring the issue up to your human resources.
In today’s era of workplace wellness, salary transparency is gradually becoming less of a radical idea. What used to be refused outrightly by HR professionals is now being examined closely by social scientists, researchers, and consultants.
The results are clear: it’s an insane idea, but it could radically transform a company for good.
It’s National Jealousy Day in Finland, where the country publishes precise pay and tax details for all workers. Dubbed an “annual orgy of financial voyeurism” by Finnish news broadcaster Yle Uutiset, every penny you make is searchable online or discoverable just by making a phone call.