What do employees want to know about compensation?
What makes compensation effective? Employers, do you really want to know? The secret is that employees just want to know. They don’t necessary want to know everyone’s wages but they do want to know how the compensation system works in their organization.
Most organizations are afraid to talk about compensation. It is almost like politics and religion, which are not usually talked about in public. However, like any topic that is not discussed in the workplace, misinformation breeds like a wildfire. Misinformation leads to assumptions and workplace assumptions are usually incorrect, which can lead to organizational frustration.
A study by Peter LeBlanc shows that effectively communicating your compensation system will benefit your organization.
Click here to read about the study.
According to the study, the best way to communicate your compensation systems is to, “Keep it personal, interactive and it is best presented one on one from the employees direct manager.” Furthermore, the study also found that “…at all income levels…the more knowledge our study participants have about their pay system, the more likely they are to be satisfied with their pay and engaged at work.”
The shroud of secrecy over workplace compensation needs to be lifted, and open one-to-one communication encouraged so an employee’s supervisor can pave the way.
Discussion Questions
- If information about compensation is best presented to the employee by their manager, what role can HR play in supporting the communication roll out strategy?
- Develop an outline of a training program for managers to discuss compensation with their employees.