Do your employees
complain that they’re underpaid for the jobs they perform? You may want to tell
them to think again. A new Salary.com survey—conducted through an online poll
of about 14,000 workers and 400 HR managers— reveals that 65 percent of workers
want to change jobs, mainly because they feel they’re undercompensated. But,
less than 20 percent of these workers are actually underpaid, according to an
analysis of job title, industry, geography, and company size. And, about 17
percent of these individuals are even overpaid. Why the disparity between pay
and perception? Salary.com says “overtitling”— giving an employee a trumped-up
job title instead of a salary increase—may be a key culprit. When overtitling occurs,
typically the person’s job duties won’t be on par with the salary level
normally associated with the job title—but the employee may perceive that the
fancy title warrants higher compensation. The full results of the 2005/2006
Employee Job Satisfaction and Retention Survey can be accessed online at www.salary.com.
Join us this fall in San Francisco for the California Employment Law Update conference, a 3-day event that will teach you everything you need to know about new laws and regulations, and your compliance obligations, for the year ahead—it’s one-stop shopping at its best.