Member Article

Shhh! Most employees prefer not to talk about their wages

Do you tell the people closest to you what you earn? Turns out, not many people do.

A new poll by HR software provider CIPHR suggests that most British adults are reluctant to discuss their salary with friends and family, and even less so with their colleagues and co-workers.

Over a third (36%) of the 1,005 employees surveyed admit that they don’t talk about their salary with their significant other (spouse or partner), and only two-fifths (40%) of people are happy for their friends or parents to know what they earn. Even less (20%) divulge that information to their children.

According to the findings, women are more likely to be candid about their pay with their friends, compared to men (44% and 34% respectively). As are the under-35s, with nearly half (47%) of 18 to 34-year-olds happy to chat about their wages with friends.

Colleagues and co-workers are further down the list, with only a third (33%) of people saying they have conversations about their pay at work, while only one in six (16%) would reveal their current salaries to potential new employers.

People working in IT and software, construction, real estate, and finance and insurance, are, statistically, the least likely to share salary information with their work colleagues (18%, 23%, 23% and 23% respectively).

When it comes to looking for a new job, however, HR professionals (42%) seem to be the most open to discussing their current pay with recruiters, closely followed by estate agents (38%) and legal professionals (35%).

Commenting on the findings, David Richter, director of marketing at CIPHR, says: “Many people feel it’s inappropriate – rude even – to discuss their finances in public. And conversations about wages can fall into this category. It can be awkward at times to discuss money but it can also be really helpful in the long run – particularly among people you know and trust. The more salary is shrouded in secrecy, the fewer opportunities there are for people to discover or challenge unfair pay gaps. And that can never be a good thing.”

CIPHR polled 1,005 UK employees, the majority of which work at medium- or large-sized companies, on 23 September 2021 as part of a wider survey on the UK’s gender pay gap. An infographic showing the results of the poll is available at www.ciphr.com/survey-infographic-do-you-tell-people-how-much-you-earn. CIPHR’s ‘Gender pay gap survey’ results are available to view at www.ciphr.com/research/gender-pay-gap-survey.

CIPHR is a specialist provider of SaaS HR, learning, payroll and recruitment software through its HCM platform, CIPHR Connect. More than 600 organisations use CIPHR’s solutions globally across the public, private and non-profit sectors, with customers including Blackpool Pleasure Beach, British Museum, Cambridge Building Society, Cera Care, Claire’s Accessories UK, ClientEarth, Dragon School, Envision Virgin Racing, Information Commissioner’s Office, Kido Education, Met Office, Pro:Direct Sport, The Royal Society of Medicine, Thorntons Law, Vodafone Automotive UK, Volkswagen Group UK, and Willerby.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma-Louise Jones .