An online poll of 2,700 respondents aged 16+ in work in Great Britain was conducted by the TUC and research company GQR. It found that 18 per cent of UK workers have been ordered not to discuss their earnings with colleagues.
In addition, it was found that half of the workers polled are not aware of the salaries earned by senior management in their organisations; more than half, i.e. 53 per cent of workers, are not given information about their co-workers pay and only 18 per cent reported that their workplace has a transparent pay policy, where salary details are available to everyone through an official source.
The TUC is calling for a ban on pay secrecy - or gagging clauses - which prevent the workers from challenging unfair pay, discrimination and excessive top-to-bottom pay ratios.
Frances O’Grady - TUC General Secretary - said:
“Pay secrecy clauses are a get out of jail free card for bad bosses. They stop workers from challenging unfair pay, allow top executives to hoard profits and encourage discrimination against women and disabled people. Talking about pay can feel a bit uncomfortable, but more openness about wages is essential to building fairer workplaces.”
The TUC is calling on the government to ban secrecy clauses outright - allowing everyone to discuss their pay and other work benefits and to give stronger union rights in order that unions can ensure transparent and fair processes for setting pay rates.
Duncan Brown, head of HR consultancy at the Institute of Employment Studies, stated that some protection for workers - rendering pay secrecy clauses enforceable if the employer is trying to prevent a relevant pay disclosure - is already provided by the Equality Act. He stated:
“People will only trust their pay is fair if they understand and can see how it is determined and how their pay relates to that of others.”
However, Emma Bartlett - Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys - said that banning secrecy clauses alone would not improve pay transparency. She added:
“Placing the onus on an individual worker to root out discrimination is not an effective way of reducing discriminatory pay decisions. As demonstrated by the compulsory gender pay gap reporting, the key would have to be pushing companies to publish meaningful data on levels of pay in certain roles, so that a proper analysis can be undertaken.”
Kate Palmer - Associate Director of advisory at Peninsula Business Services - said that banning conversations on differences in wages can help prevent arguments or disputes arising at work, but she also warned that employers would have nothing to fear from staff discussing salaries if they can show the reasoning behind why one worker is paid more than another.
