Managers, Are You Prepared to Answer Questions About Pay Equity? | Harvard Business Review

Compensation and the financial components of the employee value proposition are becoming more important. The October 2022 LinkedIn Talent Trends report indicates that job candidates now consider compensation and benefits their top priority when evaluating job opportunities. Mercer’s 2022 Inside Employees’ Minds Study found that workers’ financial concerns increased significantly — with covering monthly expenses now in the top spot from #9 last year, and the ability to retire jumped to #2, and personal debt is now in the top 10. Simultaneously, pay transparency laws will make it easier for job candidates and workers to broach the sensitive topic of pay and compensation with employers. And given that a new Gartner survey shows that only 32% of employees believe their pay is fair, organizations will need to prepare to answer questions about pay. This article provides five of those questions—a few of which include: 1) How is my pay determined? 2) Why don’t I make as much money as my colleagues? 3) Why are recent hires making more money than me?  Total rewards leaders can help prepare managers to answer these and other pay equity questions.