When I talk to people about compensation practices and what’s happening around the world with pay transparency there’s inevitably a point of frustration about “there are too many new laws”, “the news laws aren’t clear”, “they keep updating and changing the laws every year”, and so forth and so on. It’s hard for all of us to help our companies navigate change, so here are a few thoughts on this complicated era…. 1) It’s never wrong thing to do the right thing… focus on practices and policies and a analysis that promote equitable pay, that remove conscious and unconscious bias from the system. 2) Go to where the puck is going. I’ve heard from comp professionals at other companies over the years saying things like “yeah the government said we have to do this in Colorado, but we can technically comply if we just do XYZ” where XYZ wasn’t in the spirit of the law. Guess what, the next round of laws explicitly and punitively came down on XYZ because people saw groups of businesses trying to avoid the law. They can always just pass another law. 3) Be self-regulating. Let’s say that only 50% of your population lives in a pay transparency jurisdiction. What message does it send to your employees if you say “in order to comply with laws meant to prohibit discrimination or unjust wages, we will do XYZ in these locations, but if you don’t live there, those rules don’t apply to you”. 4) Make lemons out of lemonade. Regulation by definition is often forced change and people don’t like being forced to do/change anything. That said, not everything in pay transparency legislation is bad. There’s a split in the compensation community over salary ranges and “what should we post”. Some people want the most obfuscated/unclear ranges that they can get away with because they are worried about their “secrets”. I’m in the camp of proposing that we refine and constantly work to share the most relevant accurate information possible. This isn’t a game to see who can comply the least with a law. Posting salary ranges is a great way to communicate with potential and current employees about their potential career path and earnings and why they want to work with you. I’m hearing companies that are embracing this are seeing a more relevant applicant pool, less negotiations over wages, and it seems like fewer offer rejections. Change is hard, and it is often extra work on our day jobs. But fighting against the current of change maybe unnecessarily exhausting with little difference in outcome.
Anita Lettink
9mo
Thanks for an excellent post Bryan! In a time when employees are asking for transparency, this is the one last area that's still opaque. And why does pay have to be such a secret? I just wrote a book on Equal Pay, and I can come up with many reasons why a company should establish pay transparency, but in reality there is only one: because it's the fair thing to do!
Angela Rao
9mo
Can't agree more!!
Victoria Privett
9mo
Love all of this! Thank you for sharing your insights.
Patty Cousins
9mo
Thank you, Bryan Briscoe for your unfailing leadership on this constantly evolving issue.
Agreed! Bryan, you must have played hockey at some point in your life! 🏒
Bryan Briscoe, spot on!!
Helps leading companies support their people and transform their human capital programs.
9moSpot on. Very similar to data privacy regulations. And i appreciate the hockey reference.