Dive Brief:

• "What am I worth?" is a question most people ask about their jobs. With that in mind, Payscale, a compensation software company, surveyed 71,000 employees to study the relationship between pay and employee engagement.
• As it turns out, a company’s clarity on compensation was a top employee sentiment predictor, alongside other factors like “satisfaction” and “intent to leave."
• The survey also revealed that open, honest discussion around pay led other major "engagement" indicators, including career advancement opportunities, employer appreciation and future enthusiasm about the employer.

Dive Insight:

The top finding from the study is that workers actually don't know what they are worth. Writing at Harvard Business Review, Dave Smith, Chief Product Officer at Payscale, wrote that most employees have no idea how their pay compares to market rates. Smith writes that two-thirds of employees being paid the market rate actually believe they’re underpaid, a clear perception gap.

Speaking of perception, Smith wrote that Payscale's survey found that “intent to leave” was lower for employees who were happy with their salary. On the flip side, 60% of employees who felt underpaid were ready to hit the exits, while 39% of those who felt overpaid were ready to look for greener pastures. Smith's bottom line? Employers who stay mum on where their workforce stood compared to the going pay rate were taking a big chance they would lose people.