Which Lithuanian companies are opposed to publishing their average salaries?

The Seimas‘ proposal for companies to publish workers’ average salaries has not been received well by all Lithuanian companies.

According to Economic Consultation and Research director Gintas Umbrasas, this proposal is most feared by companies that want to hide their weak competitive edge or the fact that they are abusing their workers.

Umbrasas explained that small and medium-sized enterprises are opposed to the proposal while large businesses support it.

“There aren’t many large businesses in Lithuania – only about 5%. For all legal, normally operating business, the publication proposal shouldn’t cause any problems except for a larger administrative work load,” he said.

“It’s not that companies resisting this move have something to hide – they are hiding their weak competitiveness or the fact that they are abusing their workers. In Lithuania, a culture of not paying salaries or late payments is widespread. I think that the publication of these numbers wouldn’t solve these problems, but it would soften and reduce them,” Umbrasas said.

He denied the idea that such a proposal would burden companies, as they are already obligated to submit similar numbers to Sodra.

Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation chairman Artūras Černiauskas is convinced that the average salaries of workers at companies should be published because it will make the Lithuanian market more transparent and help people in their search for work.

“If a company’s average salary is significantly different for the average for other companies in that field, there’s a question of why that’s the case. If there’s a significant difference, perhaps the company is doing poorly, or perhaps its business isn’t totally transparent,” said Černiauskas.