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As the topic of remuneration becomes less taboo it should help reduce gender pay gaps, he says.
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Pay secrecy law reform a ‘positive first step’, says KeyPay co-founder
25 January 2023
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The law reform surrounding pay secrecy which now allows employees to decide whether or not to share information regarding their pay and employment terms with colleagues is a “positive first step” but not the last word, according to KeyPay.
Co-founder of the cloud-based workforce management and payroll platform Phil Bernie said the change to the laws which previously allowed employers to ban employees from discussing remuneration with colleagues was productive.
“I think the really good thing is anything that encourages open and transparent communications within the workplace, particularly around salary, it’s always been a bit of a taboo topic, with a lot of employers putting in strict confidentiality clauses, I think it’s probably just the first step in the conversation,” said Mr Bernie.
“I think it’s a good positive step so that employees can have these conversations with each other and with their managers without fear of disciplinary action.”
“What I would like to see sort of longer term is creating a culture of openness where people feel comfortable about discussing their salaries in the workplace so that over time they can feel valued for the work that they’re doing.”
While Mr Bernie was not advocating for employees to go around publicly talking about their pay at Christmas parties or work functions, he said providing a worker the legislative backing to have conversations with co-workers and managers to address pay concerns was important.
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“I think it’s something that over time, I think will help ensure greater transparency across the industry,” he said.
Mr Bernie also addressed the concerns that having the freedom to speak about wages would see a rise in employees requesting a pay increase, hindering businesses already facing challenging economic conditions.
“I don’t think it will explicitly drive an increase in requests for pay increases, based on what I’ve seen everyone for the last 12 to 18 months has been asking it based on inflation, so I don’t think it will impact those conversations.”
“What I do think is that it will help people go into those conversations a lot better prepared, and it gives them an additional piece of information that allows them to ensure that when they’re having these conversations around salary and compensation that they’re being compensated fairly compared to their co-workers and they’re not being undervalued.”
“If it’s open and if it’s transparent, and if we as a society head towards that, I think it helps give people another piece of information, but I don’t think that information in and of itself is likely to push for more pay rises.”
Helping confront the gender pay gap was raised as a possible reason for the legislative change however Mr Bernie said more needed to be done.
“I think in and of itself I don’t think it solves the problem but I do think it is one step in a series of steps that I think will help reduce gender pay gaps. Having as much knowledge and information as you can when you’re going into these conversations is really important,” he said.
Mr Bernie said the legislation change meant there was scope for HR and payroll platforms to provide ways for employees to request access to salary information between one another or even for an organisation to decide to publish salary tiers across the industry.
While it was only the first step, he was excited to see what further measures the government and industry bodies take to increase transparency within the workplace.
“I think it’s a really positive first step,” said Mr Bernie. “But I’m really looking forward to the government and even industry bodies, unions, and any organisation that has influence over these conversations really help with looking to push the conversation.”
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