The Great Resignation is a topic that’s permeated the discussion around workforce management, talent attraction, and future planning over the past year or so. Employees are reassessing what they’re looking for in a workplace, and entitlements or benefits that were once seen as a ‘bonus’ are becoming standard offering. There’s been talk about increased flexibility, the importance of job security, employee burnout, finding fulfilment and purpose, and much more. All these things are important.
But one key driver remains, and that is pay.
It should go without saying that being paid for the work someone does isn’t a bonus - it’s the minimum expectation. However, as we have seen in recent times, the complexities in our industrial relations framework, as well as failures in systems and processes (mostly inadvertent), mean that this expectation often isn’t met. In other words, the simple act of making sure people are paid properly for the work they’ve done is, in reality, not so simple.
And now more than ever, aside from the potential legislative breaches and reputational impact, employers who have underpaid their employees are at risk of losing their people and face difficulties recruiting new talent.
As the employment market changes, it is entirely possible that we’ll see employees ‘vote with their feet’ and move on from workplaces that aren’t able to guarantee they’re complying with their obligations. As a study by NAB recently found, many of the key reasons people are considering leaving their current employment are “push” factors. Unsurprisingly, this includes poor pay and benefits.
In the war for talent, if we consider the numerous and well-publicised cases of significant underpayments, it may not be enough to simply tell employees that they’re being paid properly. Instead, there will be an advantage for employers who can show that they take their obligations seriously and have put steps in place to make sure this is happening.
At Yellow Canary, we’re seeing this with the adopters of Always on Compliance. Rather than being reactive to queries being raised (directly or indirectly) by employees (and potentially faced with a retrospective wages liability in the multi-millions) they are adapting to the market and putting steps in place to constantly monitor that this base expectation – being paid for the work that’s been performed – is consistently met.
* Yellow Canary content on this website is intended solely for the purpose of offering commentary and general knowledge. The content is not intended to constitute legal advice. You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content.
.svg)