After making salaries public some employees took action

Most domestic workers are dissatisfied with their wages and while they’re searching for a new employer they’re interested in future salary.

Since the start of this year the average wages in the companies are made public. Some employees are happy with higher salaries after they know them and the others will talk with their employer in the future.

“Spinter research” survey, which was ordered by DELFI, shows that nearly 70 per cent people who are looking for a job are interested in what is the average salary in the company. Specialists of 18-45 years old that live in bigger cities are the ones who are usually interested in the salary in the company.

68 per cent of respondents admitted that they are not satisfied with their current salary. Only a fifth said that they are satisfied with their salary.

When asked whether the publication of average salaries had an impact on their own salary, 9.5 per cent said that their place of employment revised the pay system. 18.9 per cent indicated that they have already has asked or are going to ask for a higher salary.

This was more often said by men with higher education, who are younger (up to 25 m.) and residents in bigger cities.

Men are braver, women – more stable

Raimonda Tatarėlytė, who is the Manager of marketing in the specialized career page “CV Market”, believes that the publication of average salaries won’t have a significant impact.

“We need to understand that here salaries are indicated from the lowest to the highest position in the company. E.g. In one company there can be 3 executives that earn 20 thousand Euros and 10 other employees, whose salary will only reach the minimum wage, and another company will have 1 manager who earns 1.5 thousand Euros plus 10 employees, who will receive 800 Euros.

According to the average it would seem that the first company is more attractive but an employee could barely make ends meet. So, I think the published average wages should be evaluated more critically and to understand that the reality can be distorted by a few employees that earn a lot” considered the respondent.

However, according to her, publication of average salaries have positive things – ads receive more attention and candidates; job seekers can instantly decide if the job is suitable not to waste both employers and their time; the company seems more reliable when they’re not afraid to publicize their salaries.

“Average of salaries, of course, was a very good excuse to go and ask for a raise. From frequent research on wages, we can see that in general men are more daring in this regard and are not afraid to take risks and women lean towards stability and negotiate a salary less frequently.

Also, the population of larger cities in the labor market have more opportunities, so it’s not scary to ask for a salary. Employees in regions have less choice, open jobs don’t stay that way for a long time, so in fear of losing their job they rarely try to negotiate about improving their working conditions” the manager commented the survey results.

Why is the salary not written in the ad?

When asked why employers rarely say the salary in ads, R. Tatarėlytė explained that there are several main reasons.

“One of them is the reluctance to disclose the pay to competitors. This could damage the interests of the company, it will be easier for the competitors “lure” in the current staff and so on. Another thing is not to publish because of the current employees.

Salaries of people in the same position can vary, for example: the contract was made at different times (when the economic situation was different); some employees always have a talk with the employer and get a raise, while others remain passive and work for the same pay for many years; the experience and knowledge can be different as well, etc. So, they want to avoid conflict among employees” commented she.

According to her, sometimes a specific salary is now agreed for an open position.

“This is because the candidates also can be different, for example, one will meet all the requirements and will agree to work for salary X and the work is done perfectly, and there may be a candidate, who not only meets the requirements, but still have additional knowledge, experience, and can perform more functions, so that person can be offered a bigger pay” explained the respondent.

Because of the shadow and the power of negotiation

When talking about the publication of average pay, chief adviser at “Sodra” Julita Varanauskienė identified several reason or goals:

“First, fight with shadow with publicity- the partial payment of wages in envelopes bypassing taxes; second – to give employees more bargaining power when negotiating pay, when the abilities to pay more are made public; thirdly – to satisfy curiosity of workers, employers and competitors.

Adviser admitted that when “Sodra” started publishing the data, received a number of comments that we should give more details but so far the volume of information in ads regarding salaries is determined by law.

“The survey results show that some of the goals are already reached: 10 per cent of respondents mentioned that published averages of starting salary made the company to revise the pay policy, 19 per cent said that asked or intend to ask for a higher pay.

Of course, thinking critically, the survey results still don’t exclude the possibility that and not because average salaries were being made public” noted J. Varanauskienė.

On the other hand, according to her, a lot of people said that they hadn’t heard about published averages. These often are people that are less educated, of lower income, residents in district centers and villages – so, those who may need higher wages the most.

“Those, who did or are going to ask for a raise are men with higher education, younger – those people, who, according to our data, already earn more or whose increase of income is more likely to happen – their negotiating power is strengthened even further.

When comparing the answers to the question, if the salary is satisfactory according to “Sodra” data – unsatisfied part (68 per cent) is very similar (72 per cent) as the insured people, whose insured income is not higher than average wages (823 Euros before tax)” commented the advisor.

Public opinion and market research company “Sprinter research” conducted a public opinion survey on April 19-26 in 2017, as ordered by the news portal DELFI.

The study included residents from 18 to 75 years old. The survey was conducted by standardized interviews. The study took place in the whole territory of Lithuania, in 65 points that were arranged to represent the entire country.

The study had 1005 respondents. The proportional distribution of participants is proportional to the population of the country. The research results may have an error of 3.1 per cent.

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