Dive Brief:
- Employers have room to grow when it comes to communication about employee compensation, according to a Feb. 2 Salary.com report – and employee engagement may be on the line.
- HR professionals surveyed by the firm generally said their employers are upping worker pay this year, and more than half have a compensation philosophy. More than half also said they have a compensation plan. But many fail to share those philosophies and plans with workers, and only one third of respondents said they train managers on compensation conversations.
- Less than half of the HR respondents rated their organization's employee engagement as above average.
Dive Insight:
Communication around pay is lagging, Salary.com’s VP of compensation, Chris Fusco, concluded in a statement on the survey’s findings, “and employee engagement may be suffering because of it,” he said.
Total compensation statements are one way to do that, experts previously told HR Dive. Among other information, employers can include insight on how pay is set, pointing to factors such as performance or education. But managers also must be trained to deliver that information and answer questions, they said; supervisors should be able to communicate the value of items included, and know when to elevate questions to someone else.
Fusco offered similar recommendations: "Corporate leadership must address the dynamic of burgeoning pay transparency laws and a persistently tight labor market by pulling back the curtain on pay and training managers on how to have tough conversations,” he said. “If they don't make progress, they could face lasting consequences.”
