Would you feel better about your less-than-market salary if your boss talked to you about how the company structures pay? Maybe. PayScale survey data from 71,000 U.S. employees show that workers who are paid less than the market rate for their jobs were more satisfied if their employer was transparent about their pay, as this Bloomberg Business piece points out. When someone actually sat down with workers and talked to them about compensation, their job satisfaction numbers more than doubled, rising from 40 percent to 82 percent.
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Workers Will Jump Ship Looking for More Money
If you’re not happy with a job, you’ll start looking for the exit, and one of the top reasons people quit is looking for more money. PayScale’s 2015 Compensation Best Practices Report (CBPR) notes the two main reasons people give for quitting: personal reasons and looking for that bigger paycheck. If you think you’re underpaid, of course you’re going to be a) unhappy and b) willing to go through the rigors of a job search to get that raise.
Managers Need to Talk More
No, we don’t mean more boring meetings, we mean more one-on-one chats about you and how awesomely well-paid you are (we hope). As noted in the Bloomberg Business article, managers often aren’t given the right talking points to make employees feel secure in their paychecks.
If you’re a manager, instead of avoiding the subject of pay, or kicking the can down the calendar to some “annual review” that’s hardly a two-way street, it’s better to talk early and often about all manner of things including salary, goals, and performance.
You Can Easily Figure Out What You’re Worth
Even if your boss is tight-lipped on salary, you can do your own research to find out if you’re being paid fairly. PayScale’s salary survey makes it easy to compare your salary to that of other workers in similar roles. Check it out and add your own data to the mix. Ready to leave? We’ve got a job search tool, too.
Tell Us What You Think
Does your boss talk enough about pay? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.
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