How Do *YOU* Feel About Pay Transparency?

How much pay transparency would you like to see at your employer?

Pay transparency is a big issue these days, particularly in connection with recently passed and pending pay equity legislation.

Communications guru Frank Roche has created a brief survey over at his blog Know HR.  Take a minute, click through and share your thoughts. 

I am looking forward to the results - how about you?

Comments

[E James (Jim) Brennan]

Participated reluctantly due to a few unfortunate push-pull response options. It was short, but appears purely a joke rather than a serious poll or survey: i.e., of three options for "do you support pay transparency", the only yes = "Yes, I'm suprised we're not doing it now." And the affirmative choice elsewhere on "do you mind sharing your pay details?" says something like, "Yes, I already always tell everyone how much I make."

Non-serious options = silly stuff, to me. He appears to discourage honest answers by mocking open attitudes, appending inappropriate predicate statements that misrepresent and thus discourage a "yes," by distorting it for potential facile misrepresentation.

[Ann Bares]

Jim:

I understand and appreciate your points. Knowing Frank a little, I believe he meant to approach the topic with a light-hearted attitude, not a mocking one and certainly not with an intent to discourage honesty. But if it left you feeling that way, it likely left others in the same boat, which is really unfortunate.

[Frank roche]

Jim, first, thanks for participating.

I concede that we could have had statistician create the survey, as you likely do at ERI. (We have a Harvard-educated PhD mathematician who would love to do that work. Alas, we don't play in that space.) But that wasn't really the point -- this one was off the cuff and created in 5 minutes. It was to release a little steam, not to impinge on the fundamental and serious work of collecting survey responses.

Interestingly, 478 people have given input so far. Of that number, 76% have given written comments as well. I'd say something must be vaguely right.

I'm afraid you ascribe motivations to me without knowing me. That seems a bit facile, if I may say so myself.

[Ann Bares]

Frank:

Thanks for the response here. 478 is a great turnout - congratulations! I'll look forward to the results!

[E James (Jim) Brennan]

thereby my weasel-words "appears" and "potential" since I didn't know if this was dead-serious or simply fun, but expected a communications expert to make it clear and to mean what was said. Fulsome apologies are extended for any/all misinterpretations. Spent too many days in depositions and on expert-witness stands to ignore the abilities of veteran wordsmiths to contort innocent answers, so I admit to serious cynicism issues. Have also learned that if I intend a joke, I have to make it really obvious because someone will not get it.

Got a complaint once re a "Personnel Jargon" article mocking the "real meaning" of "average" in a Perf Appsl as really meaning, "about to be let go," from some HR guy was once rated average. ;-)

[Mark Bugaieski]

"Fair Pay"? All for it. HR should enforce it.

"Pay transparency"? You've got to be kidding!

In the context of Fair Pay, it might be like reporting EEO-1 stats. Would you publish everyone's race (not a perect analogy, I acknowledge)?

You CAN'T have pay transparency. I could hire a highly skilled person one day at xxx. And then have to hire an equally skilled person at yyy the next day. It's just the way things are. HR tries to build in equity, and that is part of our job - to be "watchdogs," but you have to be pragmatic, too. There will ALWAYS be inequities in pay and you'd have open rioting if you dislcosed all of a company's salaries!!!!!