Australia – A third of employees don’t believe they’re paid fairly

More than one in three, or 37%, of Australian workers do not feel they are currently being paid a fair salary, according to research from Robert Half Australia.

The research showed that 45% of office workers who say they are being compensated unfairly cite disproportionate salaries in relation to workload and responsibilities. Meanwhile, over a third, or 35%, state they’re unfairly paid because their salary is lower than the industry average for their role. Peer-envy is cited by 10% of workers who claim they felt their salary was unfair because their colleagues who have similar roles receive a higher salary, and 10% say it’s because their salary has not increased in the last two years.

Robert Half’s research also showed that 98% of workers would be willing to accept a job offer with a higher salary if they felt they were not being paid a fair salary by their current employer, with 64% of those saying they would be “very willing”.

“One of the main reasons why people change jobs is to secure more pay. Ideally, salaries should increase as responsibilities become broader and more complex, but this isn’t always the case – particularly in an economy marked by slow wage growth,” David Jones, Senior Managing Director of Robert Half Asia Pacific said.

“With relatively slow wage growth in Australia, companies can distinguish themselves by regularly reviewing their employees’ salaries and adjusting them to be in line or even higher than industry averages. This approach should be seen as an investment with a solid return as it can have a direct positive impact on an organisation in the long-term due to reduced staff turnover.”

“While salary is often the prime motivator when it comes to accepting and remaining in a job, if organisations are not in a position to award higher pay, they need to consider offering non-monetary benefits, such as flexible working hours, the option to work from home and professional development opportunities as they are also strong motivators for jobseekers to accept a role and employees to remain with the organisation,” Jones said.

Source: http://www2.staffingindustry.com/row/Editorial/Daily-News/Australia-A-third-of-employees-don-t-believe-they-re-paid-fairly-45731