Money: The three benefits of talking about it MORE in your organisation

Money. 

It’s the topic we love to hate. 

Everybody's got an opinion on it and as a society, we’ve decided we all need it, but conversations around money can either be really stifled or really emotionally charged. 

Add those feelings into the mix within a professional context of the workplace, and it can be a recipe for disaster. 

I see this a lot from employees being unsure about how to hold pay conversations but also being worried about the repercussions if they do, especially women and the impact it could have on them personally and their careers, which all take away time and energy from their working day. 

On the flip side, there can be a lack of training for managers and those in senior roles meaning they do not know how to handle these types of conversations. This results in conversations being awkward for both parties or worse, wrong or misleading information is given. 

As a pay gaps consultant, I'm on a mission to demystify these conversations - to normalise them, to make them something that happens on a regular basis and something that employees can do well. 

A key component of the work I do with organisations is around pay transparency.

For me, it’s the bedrock of all things to do with closing pay gaps and implementing pay equity. That's why I created my business after all because I’m passionate about doing this work!

In my opinion, talking about money is what many organisations need to do MORE of. It not only influences how decisions around pay are made but being more open and transparent and holding really good conversations about pay will ultimately lead to decisions being made with less bias and less discrimination. 

So why aren’t we talking about it more?

It’s a scary topic - there’s no denying that it brings up a lot of heightened emotions, vulnerabilities and fear. So much so that there will be loads who just decide to do nothing. Maybe these feelings feel very familiar to you too right now?

However, it doesn’t mean they or you get a pass. And I’m going to share with you the three key benefits of addressing these issues and facing them head-on:  

1 - You can control the narrative

Conversations about money happen in the workplace whether you like it or not – employees will talk amongst themselves with trusted colleagues and friends and family. Assumptions will be made – right or wrong. 

As an organisation, talking about money more openly allows you to control this narrative with authenticity and confidence. It also means you will be more informed about what your employees think and enable you to control the narrative in a more professional and productive way.

By taking the lead, you're also in a position where you can limit falsehoods because, in the absence of openness and transparency, employees may make decisions based on misinformation and misunderstandings which could result in top-talent leaving.

Even if you have an opaque pay transparency system right now or a large pay gap, you can show a willingness to hold more transparent pay conversations and use it as an opportunity to discuss how you will address these issues. This could be a catalyst for employees to feel confident that changes will be made and positively influence their perception of your organisation. 

2 - It improves your ability to hold difficult conversations

Talking about money in the workplace is fraught with a lot of tension so many shy away from it, whatever seniority level however if you embrace it, you can up-skill yourself and get comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations. It also enables you to build trust with your employees, understand your employee's value propositions of the things that are important to them, nip problems in the bud early and tackle any misunderstandings. All of these things will help to grow loyalty for your existing employees and help you to retain talent. 

3 - There’s an opportunity to shift the current narrative

There’s often a reluctance to discuss issues about pay as there’s a perception that once it’s out of the box, it can never go back in! By holding these conversations, and being open about your pay gaps, journey and your pay equity problems, you can shift the status quo. You can acknowledge the old way of doing things and highlight what the new thinking and new solutions are that you're bringing forward, focusing on the future. 

Doing this work can have a huge impact on an organisation and the positive ripple effect is huge. 

Working on pay transparency will help to close your pay gaps, retain talent and create much more equitable workplaces where people can thrive and feel safe to be themselves without fear of judgement, bias or discrimination negatively affecting their pay, career or progression.

Ready to face pay transparency head-on? Book a free 30-minute call to see how I could help your organisation.