Employees face several unknowns when starting at a new company or in a new position, but there are also things they can often expect, including a specific salary, healthy benefits package or on-the-job training. The tide is turning, however, as many companies and the federal government are implementing workplace changes that may greatly affect your wages. Here are three trends that could adversely — or positively — impact your paycheck.
Pay Transparency Trends
Openly discussing salaries in the workplace is typically frowned upon. Employers often discourage it, and workers generally prefer to keep the details about their take-home pay private. Yet this trend is changing now due to recent laws regarding pay transparency.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, white men typically earn more than women and minorities for the same work. In an effort to promote equal pay for such underrepresented and undervalued demographics, the Obama Administration implemented an equal-pay rule, which requires organizations with more than 100 employees to report the amount of money paid to all employees.
The report must contain information about each employee's gender and race, and employers must report fair earnings to the federal government to avoid investigation. While pay transparency might lower the morale of workers who are used to earning more than certain colleagues, it helps to ensure a more level playing field for all employees. Still, since employers are now required to pay fairly, raises or promotions might not be as frequent, which means this trend can impact your pay in multiple ways.
No More Annual Raises
Countless employers, including the federal government, conduct annual reviews and provide yearly raises to employees. Employees might also receive an annual cost-of-living raise to ensure they earn enough to cover basic living expenses.
New and established companies are slowly doing away with this practice, which can impact your pay. Prominent organizations, such as General Electric, believe it's better to eliminate annual raises in favor of rewarding employees based on performance.
The goal is to reward high achievers and motivate the other employees to perform at an elevated level. Although this can impact your pay adversely, particularly if you are new to an organization, it can also encourage workers to stick around longer, ultimately helping employers build a team of dedicated, top-quality professionals.
Overtime Eligibility Requirements
Currently, salaried workers who earn more than $23,600 are not eligible for overtime pay. Due to unfair labor practices though, U.S. workers who earn up to $47,476 will be eligible to receive overtime pay starting Dec. 1, 2016.
This change can dramatically impact your pay, especially if you regularly work more than 40 hours per week. Employers who don't want to pay out overtime are now forced to reevaluate their business practices to ensure workers don't have to spend as much time on the job, which also benefits employees.
The goal of these professional shifts might be to create a better, fairer work environment for employees, but the outcome won't be favorable for everyone involved. Regardless of your job title, these workplace changes could impact your pay, which may very well cause some employers to lose their best talent. However, top-performing employees who are compensated fairly are likely to stick around.
Photo courtesy of jesadaphorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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