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Millennials, Gen Z Workers Want to Know What Their CEOs Make

More than three quarters (78%) of workers believe that most CEOs and top executives make too much money compared to their employees, according to a recent beqom survey of 1,200 actively employed adults in the United States. Still, most (60%), including two-thirds of Millennials and Gen Z, want transparency into their CEO’s salary.

Among workers under age 39, nearly one-third (28%) said the pay transparency was important to creating a better company culture, with men and women in equal agreement. Another 25% of Millennials and Gen Z said they wanted to know their CEO’s salary because it would motivate them to work harder and earn more money. Finally, 11% want to know simply to compare their own salaries to that of the CEO’s.

78% of US workers think CEOs and top executives make too much money compared to their employees.

Our survey set out to uncover modern attitudes towards compensation, and results showed us that today's multigenerational workforce is not shy about sharing salary details.

In fact, employee engagement benefits greatly from compensation transparency. When organizational goals are aligned from the CEO down and made visible to all, employees have a better understanding of what the company is trying to achieve. With visibility into how team objectives affect total rewards throughout the organization, employees will feel a sense of fairness and unity with their fellow coworkers.

Companies with the most pay transparency publish external salary and cost of living benchmarks to their employees. Visibility into this information not only allows Human Resource teams to make effective salary adjustments each year, but also provides the ability to explain to employees why their compensation and benefits packages differ from their counterparts in another area of the country.

Taking transparency seriously at the cultural level is a great way to differentiate your organization from the competition, fostering a workforce that is more motivated, high performing, and loyal.


Get the tips you need to develop programs to effectively attract and retain talent for years to come with our eGuide: How The Next Generation of Workers is Changing the Culture of Total Rewards.

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