61% say pay transparency will decrease staff morale

Though pay transparency has been found to boost employer-employee relationships, bosses in the advertising and marketing fields felt that an open pay policy would decrease staff morale.

According to new research from The Creative Group, 82% of the 400 creative executives interviewed, revealed that their organisation refrains from publicising staff compensation; of these respondents, 61% felt that pay transparency would decrease staff morale.

Nevertheless, the research also noted that there is an upside to embracing such a policy, with top benefits including increasing productivity (18%) and boosting recruitment and retention (17%).

Sadly, more than one-quarter of executives (27%) believe the potential risks outweigh any rewards.

The survey further reveals that open salary policies are most common among mid-size companies, (500-999 staff), and least common at large agencies (1,000 or more employees).

Interestingly, more than half of marketing executives at midsize companies without open salary policies (51%) thought pay transparency would increase staff morale. In contrast, more than 72% of advertising executives at large agencies felt it would have an adverse effect.

“No matter what your company’s salary policy is, benchmarking compensation and paying competitively are crucial in today’s candidate-driven market,” said Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group.

“Talented professionals are always exploring their options, and managers need to stay on top of salary trends to ensure their employees are being paid fairly.”

This article was first published in Human Resources and is reproduced with permission. Original article can be found at http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/61-say-pay-transparency-will-decrease-staff-morale/