How To Address Pay Fairness In Times of Inflation Raise

insecurity is what thousands of people experienced over the past two years. The inflation rate is reaching its highest rate since 1982. Some people may even seek cashusa installment loans which may be helpful for many workers who can’t meet their immediate cash needs. Therefore, HR leaders have to prepare to address employee satisfaction and pay fairness in their companies.

Here are the key strategies and ways to attract workers and make them want to stay even during high rates of inflation.

Current Inflation Rate

The inflation rate keeps on increasing while the consumer price index (CPI) had boosted by 7.9 percent in February.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on April 12 that consumer prices rose 8.5 percent year over year in March which adds more pressure on employers to raise salaries. The current inflation rate in the US is 4.7 percent and it continues to rise which makes HR teams find new ways to address employee pay fairness.

The latest surveys prove that current rates of inflation will escalate further. This means that the purchasing power of employees’ take-home pay is shrinking. The prices on everything tend to increase together with inflation. “Food and gas prices are going up today more than before with these costs rising 1.5 percent just in the previous month, and energy costs boosting up 6.5 percent,” claimed Gred McBrid, the Chief Financial Analyst.

Rising Pay Expectations

Many companies and businesses will need to adjust to the new reality and make the necessary changes in the payroll budget. Pay expectations of employees are rising these days and the payroll budget is planned to go up by 4 percent or even more in 2022. Of course, such changes will inevitably trail further inflation. On the other hand, while inflation keeps going up, workers so expect higher wages and pay raises in 2022.

The recent employee satisfaction survey by Grant Thornton was meant to find out what employees like and don’t like about their jobs, as well as what exactly motivated them. Traditional attractors of job stability and pay aren’t enough to bring the desired talents to the workplace. Here are the key factors driving talent attraction according to this State of Work in America survey, including:

Opportunities for career advancement
Workplace flexibility

Autonomy in their work
A delay in moving the hiring process along can be a strong deterrent to talent acquisition

Top Ways to Address Pay Fairness Among Employees

It’s necessary to admit that not every company or business will decide to adjust salaries among employees based on the rising inflation this year. However, HR teams need to think about ways to minimize the influence on turnover by addressing issues of paycheck fairness for all workers. Here is what HR leaders can do:

1. Proactively Address Workers’ Worries About Salary

First of all, HR teams need to address prospective worries and concerns of their employees in order to prevent them from having those anxieties. The workers’ perception of this topic affects their decision to leave the company or stay no matter if they are paid fairly or not. Don’t wait until your workers start asking you questions you don’t want to answer. The aim of HR leaders is to help them understand how their present wage compares to the market pay and what they would make if they change jobs.

This is called to proactively address the prospective worries of your team members. Each of the employees should see the wage transparency and notice how their salary compares to the market and other companies in the same industry. Remember that workers will keep on talking about their monthly income and inflation no matter if you raise this topic or not.

2. Adapt Communications Over the Short And Long Term

Another important strategy to avoid mistakes and make your employees feel motivated is to have frequent communication about salary with the workers. HR teams need to understand that it’s not enough to talk about wages once. This should be a long-term activity as workers want to obtain this type of communication at least once per month.

Keep in mind that the needs of your employees may change over time so you need to adapt to these changes. The initial communication about the current inflation and salary may help you define the questions and pay resources you need to research to address these concerns during the next communication. HR teams may need to discuss the options of getting a cash advance at work as well if they found out that this is one of the top employees’ concerns.

3. Prepare Managers to Clearly Talk About Wages

Almost half of the workers want to hear about wages from their direct managers and HR teams. Yet, many managers aren’t ready to lead such discussions. HR leaders should realize the importance of having these conversations with the employees and prepare themselves to talk about inflation. This is what can help HR leaders prepare for this communication:

Teach Managers To Answer Questions With Empathy

It’s essential to be empathic when you talk about such a sensitive topic as wages especially when the majority of employees feel not earning enough due to inflation.

Define Workers Who Might Have These Concerns

This strategy will help managers prepare relevant answers and potential solutions to the problems.

Narrow Manager’s Responsibility

HR teams need to realize that it’s challenging and overwhelming to talk about every topic connected with wages and inflation. The amount of data is huge so they should tell the managers what they should and shouldn’t be prepared for when leading paycheck conversations.

In summary, not all companies choose to adjust their salary based on inflation. Those organizations that aim to attract employees and make them want to stay should address their pay concerns frequently and clearly. The perception of this matter among workers affects their decision to go or stay whether they are being paid fairly or not.