2019 Insights Lecture

11 July 2019

As societies around the world grapple with income inequality and persistent gender-based wage gaps, employers have been called upon to be more transparent about their remuneration practices and procedures.  HR information systems, the internet, and social media can certainly facilitate this by making both formal and informal sharing of pay information easier than ever. And in general, good communication is also desirable for effective implementation and employee understanding of pay systems.

But is more information always better? How do employees react to increased transparency? Prof Ingrid Fulmer, an internationally-recognised expert on pay systems and employee motivation, discusses the academic research on pay communication and transparency, including her current research on three  different types of pay transparency. She highlights the key decisions that organisations have to make about transparency and presents research on the intended and unintended consequences of transparency.

Ingrid Fulmer is Professor of Human Resource Management and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, USA. She is also an adjunct member of UniSA’s Centre for Workplace Excellence. Her research focuses on the effects of compensation and other strategic HR practices on employee social comparisons and motivation and on organizational performance.

Can we Talk? Communicating about pay

Professor Ingrid Fulmer