In recent months, the topic of salary transparency has gained momentum in both the United States and Canada, especially since the implementation of a related law on November 1st, 2022, in the State of New York. In light of the current context, we decided to survey Canadians on their views on wages and their opinions on the possible implementation of similar legislation in Canada. We partnered with survey institute Leger Marketing to also poll Canadians on their opinion regarding disclosing salaries. The survey was conducted among 1,534 Canadian residents over the age of 18 years old. Highlights of the survey are presented below.
Do you feel you are receiving a fair wage for the work you do?
We asked Canadians if they thought they were fairly compensated. Looks like the Canadian population is split almost equally on the matter with 45% saying yes and 43% thinking otherwise.
Are you considering leaving your job within the next year?
From a recruitment standpoint, it's important to consider the proportion of Canadians who are ready to leave their jobs in the coming year. Results show that a quarter of all Canadians are thinking of making this career move in 2023. When broken down by age and region, Canadians under 35 are more likely to consider leaving their jobs as well as those who live in British Columbia (34%) and Ontario (28%) compared to other provinces.
Would you support a salary transparency law?
Survey participants were asked, "If the government were to pass a law requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings, would you support this law?" and 8 out of 10 Canadians said yes. Interestingly, there was a significant difference between respondents in the west of Canada and those in Ontario and Quebec. It may be worth investigating the reasons for this gap in more detail in future studies.
Do you feel comfortable discussing salary with family, friends, or colleagues?
While Canadians generally want salary transparency from employers, how willing are they to be transparent with those closest to them? When asked about their comfort levels in discussing salary with different groups of people, Canadians are most open with family members (54%) as opposed to their friends (38%) or colleagues (32%). Worth noting, younger Canadians (under 35) are generally more at ease discussing salary than older generations across the board.
Do you believe salary transparency will have a positive impact on women and racial minorities?
The majority of Canadians, about 6 in 10, believe legislation enforcing pay transparency would increase pay equity across gender (61%) and race (57%). Women (67%) and people from Quebec (67%) are more likely to feel that salary transparency will help close the gender pay gap.
Finally, to be very direct, we asked survey participants to mull over the reality of their salary information being made available to others in their organization and 47% said they would feel comfortable with that scenario.
As the salary transparency discussion and legal trend seem to spread to more parts of the world, employers are beginning to see how a transparent compensation policy seems to have a positive impact on motivating a workforce and on recruitment.