SAUSALITO, Calif. – February 4, 2010 – As companies have pressed rewind on pay and bonus structures in the past 18 months, many are left in the dark on what is fair pay – the “new normal” -- in today’s market. Even as employees and jobseekers are trying to evaluate their worth, they’ve become increasingly uncomfortable about discussing their salary and compensation, according to a recent online survey by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Glassdoor.com of 1,356 employed adults. In fact, 17 percent say they are not comfortable discussing their current compensation with anyone, up from 11 percent in May 2008.
When it comes to discussing pay and compensation, those who are comfortable sharing this information generally feel more comfortable sharing with family and friends than those who can actually provide clarity or make a difference in their pay check - their boss and human resources. Only one in four (25 percent) of these employees are comfortable discussing their salary with their boss, and are more likely to discuss their compensation with their best friend (33percent), than an HR Representative (18 percent).
“People have this underlying fear that talking about their salary or negotiating compensation with their boss or HR will make them look like they are ungrateful, especially in an economy where just having a steady paycheck is important,” said Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com career and workplace expert, who has run global HR departments at Electronic Arts and PepsiCo before co-authoring Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. “We’re living in a different era and companies and employees should be more open about compensation to bridge gaps in expectations and reach a common understanding of the ‘new normal’ in today’s economy. Salary levels will take time to recover to pre-recession rates, but the more open we are to discussing what we are worth, the better we can prepare for the short and long terms.”
Not surprisingly, the younger generation (18-34) are more comfortable sharing salary information their best friend (42%) and boss (31%) than those 55+ (25% and 24%).( However, it seems the less one makes, the less likely they are to discuss salary: 31% of those making $35k to $49.9k say they are not comfortable discussing their salary with anyone versus 10 percent of those making 50k to 74.9k and 8 percent of those making 75k or more. Those making $35-49.9k who are just as comfortable talking about their compensation with other employees who are at their level (28 percent) as they are with their boss (27 percent).
Overall, those employees who are comfortable sharing compensation details, discuss them with:
· Spouse / Significant Other: 66 percent
· Best Friend: 33 percent
· Boss: 25 percent
· Financial Advisor: 24 percent
· HR Representative: 18 percent
· Other Employees at Their Level: 15 percent
· Other Employees at a Higher Level: 6 percent
· Casual Acquaintance Outside Work: 5 percent
· Other Employees at a Lower Level: 4 percent
· Other Employees Who Report to Me Directly: 2 percent
Age and location also have an impact on comfort levels with sharing salary:
· 11 percent of men aged 18-34 share salary information with casual acquaintances, compared to only 2 percent of men 55+.
· Younger workers 18-34 are more comfortable discussing salary with their best friends (42 percent) than HR (20 percent).
· Employees in the West are twice as likely to share salary information with employees at the same level (22 percent) than those in the South (10 percent).
For the full results and methodology of the survey, please contact pr[at]glassdoor dot com.
1) Harris Interactive® fielded the Q4 Employment Confidence study on behalf of Glassdoor.com from December 15-17, 2009 via the QuickQuerySM online omnibus service among 2,257 adults ages 18 and older of whom 1,356 were employed full time/part-time and/or self employed. Data were weighted using propensity score weighting to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A full methodology and complete survey results are available.
About Glassdoor.com
Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community where anyone can find and anonymously share real-time reviews, ratings and salary details about specific jobs or interviews for specific employers -- for free. Glassdoor enables employees, job seekers, employers and recruiters to simultaneously see -- for the first time – unedited employee and job candidate opinions about a company’s work environment along with details of pay, benefits, CEO approval ratings and job interview reviews. Glassdoor was founded in 2007 and launched its public beta in June 2008. Headquartered in Sausalito, Calif., Glassdoor was founded by Richard Barton, Robert Hohman and Tim Besse and has raised $9.5 million from its founders, Benchmark Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures.