The past few weeks we’ve discussed the importance of providing pay transparency resources to your members in light of new regulations spreading across the country. However, regulations are not the only reason your organization should be providing these resources to your members. Pay transparency and DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) are intertwined and by excelling in one, you are certain to start excelling in the other.
So, what does Pay Transparency have to do with DEI and Organizational Culture? 3 things to consider:
1. Hiding Salary Ranges Can Create a Culture of Distrust:
When salary ranges are not disclosed, employees and candidates find themselves in a position to speculate what others in similar roles are making. It is human nature, right? We all want to know that we are being compensated for the work we provide in a comparable manner to others. By knowing the range of pay for a particular position, employees and prospective candidates know what their growth potential is and that they are not being undercompensated for their position.
2. Pay Transparency Helps Define Professional Growth Plans:
When an organization makes the decision to release pay transparency information, they will also want to ensure they have clearly outlined salary formulas that are tied to that position’s professional growth plan. This ensures that pay incentives are based on objective measures such as met performance KPI’s and not unconscious bias or discrimination. While this clearly helps employees understand that your organization is focused on equal and fair pay based on production and not subjective value, it is also good for budgeting purposes for the organization. Management can easily assess who has met their promotion goals and then budget accordingly.
3. Compensation Benchmarking Saves the Organization Time and Money:
When a company is recruiting new talent, often pay is not addressed until the final conversations. While we understand discussing pay can be uncomfortable, it is better to get the conversation over sooner, rather than later. It can assist in recruiting the right talent for your position and decrease the time spent in negotiations. If you do not understand the salary ranges in your industry, then how will you know you are providing the correct pay to acquire new talent? Researching benchmarks within your industry also ensures you have the right pay range for current employees. Retaining the workforce that you have invested time and resources in is key to a healthy organization. Benchmarks also help employees understand how pay is determined. It makes them comfortable with the fact that others are not being paid less or more based on age, race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Associations are the central data hub for their members and the only true resource for industry compensation benchmarks and pay scale benchmarks. If you are not providing comp + benefits benchmarking or DEI benchmarking to your members, we encourage you to start researching how you can get this widely requested benefit in the hands of your members. It can be a great driver for member value and non-dues revenue.
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