Inflation isn’t likely to go down anytime soon, so it’s likely that your employees will be demanding higher wages to keep up.
According to a recent report by Beqom, a compensation management software company, two-thirds (66 percent) of employees say inflation has outpaced the wage growth they achieved last year, and that American workers’ wages have jumped an average of 5 percent.
The problem for employers, and for the economy as a whole, is the spiral of wages and prices that is blocking inflation. However, workers will not stay if they fall behind in wages. “With growing economic pressures, employers should expect to have more conversations with workers about wages as workers try to keep up with the rising cost of living,” said Tanya Jansen, co-founder of Bekom. While those conversations are often difficult, employers should take workers’ concerns into account and work to address concerns about inflation, even if they don’t have the budget to raise wages.”
Provide transparency in job descriptions
About 61 percent of people say they are more likely to apply for a job that includes a position salary, according to the report. The lack of candor exacerbated mistrust on the part of employees, as many of them found colleagues with similar roles and higher salaries. “This transparency can come in the form of salary ranges that provide access to a full breakdown of compensation, eliminating potential pay differences, or town halls that help employees understand what determines their pay,” Jansen says.
In addition, language bias can affect candidates. Avoid using words like “aggressive, competitive, drive and strong” because they likely signal a culture or role designed for men, according to the 2022 Salary Equity Report from Automatic Hiring Company. The data suggest that “women as a group are less likely to apply for jobs when some male words are used in job ads.”
Go beyond salary
Compensation doesn’t have to be monetary. In addition to high pay, workers are more likely to accept roles that include unlimited paid time off (69 percent) and more flexibility about where they work (68 percent), according to the Bekom report.
Data on salaried workers shows that only 1 percent of those surveyed seek to return to the office full-time. Eighty percent of workers in a recent survey from Citrix and OnePoll say it’s important that they can do their work from anywhere. Hybrid work also benefits companies, leading to a 35 percent reduction in layoffs with zero impact on productivity or promotion, according to a May 2022 estimate from researchers at Stanford University and online travel agency Trip.com.
“Companies and executives need to trust their employees. Giving them the flexibility of ‘Hey, go where you have to go to get your best work done’ is a net benefit,” says Russo Kazi, co-founder and CEO of job performance platform Threads.
