When Everyone Knows Everyone Else’s Pay

It has long been a fear among HR and pay professionals: What if people knew each other’s salaries? According to a new Korn Ferry survey, that fear is becoming a reality, at least in Europe. More than 30% of EU-based firms surveyed say that they’re going to share salary ranges with their employees. Experts say it might not be long before other parts of the world see a similar move towards pay transparency.

But there isn’t a lot of evidence that leaders will be ready for the jealousy, anxiety, and outright anger that could ensue. Indeed, only 10% of European firms tell us that they’re prepared. Korn Ferry examines what leaders need to do now. Plus, we highlight the six common stages of job interviewing.

1) ‘I Know What You Make’

Companies are sharing salary ranges with job candidates. They’re also getting much more specific on the responsibilities and skills a given role entails. They’re doing this to prepare for pay-transparency rules both in the United States and Europe.

What they might not be doing so well, experts say, is getting ready for a potential flood of questions and disputes once everyone knows what everyone else is earning. According to a new Korn Ferry survey in Europe, nearly 30% of companies say they will, if they don't already, internally communicate the salary bands for roles—which experts say could be a recipe for conflict for both EU firms and US multinationals doing business there.

“There’s going to be jealousy, disenfranchisement, and demands from all corners,” says?Dan Kaplan , a Korn Ferry senior client partner in the firm’s Chief Human Resources Officers practice. In short, he says, such disclosures could lead to decreased employee cooperation, anger at management, and an uptick in quits.

Read the full article here.

2) Eyes On You: Tracking of Remote Workers Grows

Of all the changes to work in recent years, there’s one that firms are happy to keep in place—electronic monitoring.

Originally conceived to deal with the pandemic and lockdowns, digital monitoring of employees by firms is continuing—and in many cases increasing. According to one recent study, 71% of employees are?subject to some form of corporate surveillance, up from less than one-third before the remote-work era took off. Trends like quiet quitting, bare-minimum Mondays, and afternoon spikes in TV-viewership data have “touched a nerve with employers,” says?Mark Royal , a senior client partner for Korn Ferry Advisory who specializes in employee engagement. In the absence of in-person oversight, he says, managers are resorting to time- and activity-tracking tools, screen monitoring, and AI-based approaches.

Read the full article here.

3) The 6 Common Stages of Job Interviewing

It was somewhere around the ninth interview, during a conversation with an operations manager, that the candidate started to wonder what the point of all these meetings was anyway.

As firms take a?more cautious and methodical approach to hiring , focusing on specific skills and roles, as well as cultural fit, they are scheduling more and more rounds of interviews. Candidates aren’t just waiting twice as long to get an offer; in some cases, they’re also enduring as many as nine rounds of interviews. “It gets tiresome for the candidate. They get interview fatigue,” says Korn Ferry Advance career coach?David Meintrup , who notes that middle- and junior-executive roles typically entail between three and five rounds.

It can be an exhausting process, which makes an understanding of its stages critical. Here are some thoughts on the stages of a typical interview process, including the objectives of the potential employer and job seeker in each one.

Read the full article here.

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• Our Time for Timeless Leadership - Regardless of circumstances, effective leaders consistently do this one thing, says Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison.

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