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Money Salary Transparency Survey
Employees want the best deal they can get. They want to see their paycheck grow with each passing year and every promotion and increase of responsibility. Why wouldn’t they? Bills, housing costs, living expenses, they never go away and rarely decrease in size. That’s why it’s important to negotiate raises effectively at the appropriate opportunity.
In workplaces of all sizes, water cooler discussion around who earns what and who makes the most is inevitable. Pay transparency has long been a contentious issue, yet a labor shortage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic led to several U.S. states introducing pay transparency laws. [1] Nerdwallet, ‘What Is Pay Transparency and Which States Require It?’ https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/pay-transparency-laws In 2023, Congress went a step further, introducing national legislation to combat pay equity. [2] Congress.Gov, ‘H.R.1599 - Salary Transparency Act’’ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1599
This, along with viral social media trends including Salary Transparent Street [3] Salary Transparent Street https://www.salarytransparentstreet.com/ has helped a national conversation on pay. But is this being felt among the general public? A survey was conducted on behalf of Self Financial, polling 1,181 U.S. adults to find out.
Key findings
- 82.6% of adults believe that salaries for all employees should be transparent in the workplace.
- Gen Z (85.7%) are most in support of disclosing salaries to colleagues, while baby boomers (71.1%) are least supportive.
- Less than half of employees (48.2%) believe their workplace has fully transparent salary policies.
- More than three in five employees (62.7%) have resigned or threatened to quit from a previous role because they discovered they were underpaid compared to a colleague.
- More than three in five (61%) have previously lied to their co-workers about how much they earn.
Salary transparency in the workplace
Whether it’s natural human curiosity at play or a more legitimate urge for fairness and honesty in the workplace, it appears that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of salary transparency. 82.6% of adults in this survey believe that organizations should put this in place.
While this is perhaps as expected given the national mood, it appears that not everyone is quite in agreement if we break the results down further.
While Generation Z was most in support of pay transparency (85.7%), we can see that this positive sentiment declines as participants get older. Among the baby boomer demographic, just 71.1% supported an open approach.
| Age | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| 18-26 | 85.7% | 14.3% |
| 27-42 | 83.6% | 16.4% |
| 45-58 | 80.2% | 19.8% |
| 59-77 | 71.1% | 28.9% |
However, the research found an opposite relationship when answers were compared by earnings. The lowest percentile — those earning $24k or less, were least in favor of transparency (75.8%). Those earning the most, over $100,000, were the happiest to share their salary information, alongside those earning between $25,000-$49,000.
There could be many reasons behind someone’s decision to want to share their earnings or not, however, those earning the lowest are indeed the least happy to share their salary.
| Salary | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| <$24k | 75.8% | 24.2% |
| $25-49k | 88.1% | 11.9% |
| $50-74k | 81.0% | 19.0% |
| $75-99k | 85.5% | 14.5% |
| $100-149k | 88.1% | 11.9% |
How current workplaces tackle transparent salaries
Although salary transparency is gaining momentum and employers are starting to see the benefits of greater disclosure of income [4] Wired: Pay Transparency Is Sweeping Across the US https://www.wired.com/story/pay-transparency-is-sweeping-across-us/, it appears that people aren’t entirely seeing the same response from their employers.
Overall, less than half of employees (48.2%) believed that their place of work has a fully transparent policy around salary, and more than one in 10 (13%) see no accountability at all around pay disclosure from their employer. However, 38.8% did feel there was some transparency, perhaps indicating a shift is happening, albeit slowly.
When it comes to earnings brackets however, almost three-quarters of respondents said that their employer has them in use (72.1%). HR experts argue that salary bands are an effective tool to reach pay transparency and can boost talent acquisition as they allow employees to see how their experience level is valued in the market. [5] Lattice: What Are Salary Bands? https://lattice.com/library/what-are-salary-bands This, in theory, allows for a more honest and fair conversation around pay during negotiations over raises and promotions.
The cost of a lack of transparency can be damaging to businesses. This survey shows that more than three in five (62.7%) have resigned or threatened to quit from a previous role because it transpired they were being underpaid compared to colleagues. More informed employees may be inclined to vote with their feet and seek employment elsewhere.
Discussing salaries with colleagues
Are workers comfortable sharing their salaries between peers? The research suggests that employees openly talk about pay with their colleagues. In fact, more than seven in ten (71.1%) have compared their pay with a colleague in a similar role at some point.
Perhaps as a result of this peer transparency, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65.5%) said they felt underpaid compared to colleagues, however, 61% have previously lied to their co-workers about how much they earn. It would appear that the watercooler chats about pay don’t always arise with the best intentions and they might not always be completely accurate.
However, more than three-quarters of respondents (76.8%) believe they would feel comfortable if colleagues knew their salary. Indicating that perhaps overall there is a consensus for a level playing field between employees when it comes to salary transparency, just be careful who you ask.
Salary transparency outside of the workplace
When employees do their research it can lead to them understanding what they’re worth elsewhere and can highlight when they may not be being paid enough. One ZipRecruiter report found that almost half of recruiters lowered pay bands for roles because candidates want more than the company can offer [6] ZipRecruiter, ‘Pay Trends Amid Rising Pay Transparency’ https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/pay-trends-report/ indicating many are actively pushing for more money due to salary transparency. These actions come at a time when salary transparency laws continue to take effect around the country. [7] CNBC, ‘Some companies lower salaries in job postings as pay transparency laws take effect, new report finds’ https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/companies-lower-salaries-in-job-postings-due-to-pay-transparency-laws.html
This survey on behalf of Self Financial shows that candidates are doing their research. Of all respondents, 85.4% said that they researched the average salary for similar roles to the one they’re applying for.
When using a recruitment service, 80.9% of job hunters said that the recruiter regularly disclosed the job’s salary too, indicating that employees are doing what they can to get clued up before taking on a new job.
But when it comes to job hunting, it appears social media now leads the way when it comes to being the source of salary information. Half of the people surveyed said they use platforms like Instagram and TikTok to find out how much people earn in similar roles. While AI tools, like Google Bard and ChatGPT, are being used for salary information now too, it is a relatively new method of research for most.
| What are people using to research salaries? | |
|---|---|
| Social media | 50.0% |
| Job sites | 44.9% |
| Salary comparison sites | 33.9% |
| Search engines | 33.4% |
| AI tools | 21.0% |
| Other | 8.6% |
TikTok has been a major part of the social media revolution with salary transparency. Viral star Hannah Williams, the creator behind Salary Transparent Street gained more than 1.3 million followers through her ‘how much do you make’ videos.
This survey found that 71.5% of respondents recognized videos on social media like her campaign, while 84.8% of the people who had seen these videos were inspired to take action to tackle hidden salary discrepancies.
Videos on social media highlighting salaries for different roles in different cities may therefore be driving people to have meetings with managers, look for new jobs, or get more informed on what they’re worth.
Methodology
In December 2023, a total of 1,182 employed American adults were surveyed about whether they believe there should be greater transparency in the workplace, and the discussions they have with recruiters and colleagues around pay. Respondents were asked a series of questions related to salary transparency in the workplace and during the recruitment process.
Sources
- [1] Nerdwallet, ‘What Is Pay Transparency and Which States Require It?’ https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/pay-transparency-laws
- [2] Congress.Gov, ‘H.R.1599 - Salary Transparency Act’’ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1599
- [3] Salary Transparent Street https://www.salarytransparentstreet.com/
- [4] Wired: Pay Transparency Is Sweeping Across the US https://www.wired.com/story/pay-transparency-is-sweeping-across-us/
- [5] Lattice: What Are Salary Bands? https://lattice.com/library/what-are-salary-bands
- [6] ZipRecruiter, ‘Pay Trends Amid Rising Pay Transparency’ https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/pay-trends-report/
- [7] CNBC, ‘Some companies lower salaries in job postings as pay transparency laws take effect, new report finds’ https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/30/companies-lower-salaries-in-job-postings-due-to-pay-transparency-laws.html
