Top Employer Concerns in 2022: Pay Transparency and Employee Benefits
2022 Top Compensation Trends
Pay Transparency Trends
As employees begin questioning their pay, while pay transparency continues to grow in popularity, employers are scrambling to defend their pay practices.
Salary information is becoming more available both formally, through legislation, and informally, through social media posts. Employees now have the valuable information they need to leverage conversations with their managers and challenge current compensation.
States are beginning to require the publication of salary ranges for all classifications. Some examples of the trends in the legislation include:
- CA Equal Pay Act – Employers cannot ask about the previous salary and must disclose pay ranges if asked during an interview
- CO Equal Pay for Equal Work – Employers must include salary ranges and benefits information in every job posting as well as disclose promotion opportunities and keep track of job descriptions
- NY – Employers must post maximums and minimums on all job postings or promotions by November 2022 (extended from May 15th)
More casually, there is a societal shift to make salary information less taboo. Coworkers are no longer ashamed of sharing how much they make in the company. A poll conducted in 2022 by YouGov Plc found that of their sample of 2,500 adults, 42% of Gen Z workers, ages 18-25, and 40% of millennial employees, ages 26-41, have shared their salary information with a coworker or other professional contact.
Many companies are not prepared to discuss the warrants for current salary ranges and are left with unhappy employees who still have pay concerns. Payscale has reported that employees are 50% more likely to leave if they think they are being paid below market, even if they aren’t. Some 57% of people paid at the standard market level believe they are underpaid, and 42% of those paid above the market think they are underpaid. This highlights the value of a compensation study where you can provide employees the ease of mind that they are being compensated based on their talent and skills in a competitive organization.
Benefits Trends
Total compensation is more than just cash; it’s the entire package that includes benefits available for employees based on budget. Companies are getting creative to make sure their employees perceive a good work/life balance. With changes in work models, like remote or hybrid arrangements, we are also seeing more companies jumping on the trend to offer unlimited time off.
The United States is the only developed country with no federal law requiring employers to offer paid holidays to employees. But companies are still trending to achieve work-life balance through this new perk: Unlimited Paid Time Off. While this is a debated topic, with people worried that this may be a trap to keep people constantly thinking about work, a recent study shows that 82% of employees that have unlimited PTO have the best rates of work-life balance. Competitive PTO (limited or unlimited) is more than just a mechanism to attract and retain top talent. These packages make business sense, especially for companies prioritizing innovation where we are looked at as a model to set expectations for productivity. To do good work, people must take care of themselves. Recovery is a lifestyle practice making its way into industries where creation and innovation are the organization’s backbones.
If you’re looking to expand your benefits program, we welcome you to get inspiration from the list below for the most popular benefits and perks to include in your plan. We have compiled these options for you to consider as you continue to build your employee engagement.
Consider These Benefits Trends:
- Flextime and Work-at-Home Options
- Flexible holidays
- Commuter Assistance
- Performance Bonus
- Vacation reimbursement: one-time bonus to use while taking time off
- Healthy Cafeterias and Snack Machines
- Home Office Stipend
- In-office Career Development
- Wellness Facilities and Support
- Annual Learning Stipends for participating in industry certifications, seminars, or classes
- Generous Parental and Caregiver Leave
- Volunteer Time Exchange
- Free Desktop Music
- Personal Care Services – Bring in a stylist once a month for haircuts or try dry cleaning drop off
- Discounted Access to Company Products/Services
- Stock/Stock Options/Equity
- Gym membership
- Insurance coverage for you and your dependents
Affirmative Action Planning
With federal and state agencies prioritizing pay equity, you must identify, study, and address potential areas of vulnerability and help your pay system achieve your goals for equity, competitiveness, and compliance. This Risk Analysis is a report designed to provide clients a gateway to viewing potential pay equity liabilities across multiple tiers by leveraging comparisons by job title, job group, experience or seniority, and EEO category.
In our efforts to help organizations achieve pay equity and move closer to establishing equal pay for equal work, Blue Whale has launched Blue Whale AAP. Our Affirmative Action Planning supports government contractors and any business that wants them as a customer to stay in compliance with federal regulations easily.
This methodological process starts with data cleansing and your workforce activity data reconciliation. From this, we plan development, data system coding, reporting, and monitoring your hiring, promotion, and termination practices. Next, we develop an Adverse Impact Analysis to do potential bias testing in your HR practices to ensure we have the most accurate narrative.
4/14/2022
