每年，薪酬調查公司PayScale都會對公司薪酬進行一次大范圍的調查。但在今年的報告中，調查人員發現，雇傭雙方對薪酬的看法存在巨大差距，這在以往并不常見。

首先，員工敬業度，也就是那種難以捉摸的、能夠阻止員工辭職的工作熱情，“更多的是一種口號”，而不是現實。這份報告稱，這在很大程度上是由于管理層的想法和多數員工的看法之間存在“巨大的鴻溝”。

例如：約73%的管理者和高管表示，公司員工得到了“公平的薪酬”，即員工薪酬達到了市場標準，并且符合員工的貢獻。盈利水平最高的公司的領導者，甚至更為自信，這一比例達到83%。但在這些公司，僅有略超過三分之一（36%）的員工認為，他們得到的薪酬與自身價值相符。高管看法和員工看法可謂“天淵之別”，相差竟然高達30-50個百分點！

這還只是冰山一角。關于員工“在工作中是否得到了重視”這個問題，6012名北美高管和管理者當中，有78%給出了肯定回答。而從員工角度來看這個問題，給出同樣答案的員工卻不足半數（45%），兩者相差33個百分點。認為公司“保持薪酬透明”的管理者（40%）比例，是員工（21%）的兩倍。

當然，如果留住關鍵人才并非管理層最大的擔憂，或者感覺薪酬很低不是員工辭職的三大原因之一，那么，上述分歧并不是什么大問題。但現在看來，除了信息技術行業，“對留住人才的擔憂并未轉變成給他們漲薪了事”，僅有8.2%的雇主計劃利用漲薪的方式來留住關鍵人才。

PayScale高級副總裁蒂姆?洛表示：“當然，薪酬并非員工決定離開還是留下的唯一因素。但現在雇主與員工之間出現了脫節。雇主不愿意用金錢手段來解決員工保留問題?！?/p>

原因不難猜測。一方面，為留住一位員工而給他或她大幅漲薪或提供留任獎金，會給其他員工開創先例，使他們期待獲得同樣的、甚至更好的待遇，但薪酬預算無力惠及這么多人。

那么，如何留住那些感覺自身價值被低估的員工，避免他們選擇辭職呢？蒂姆?洛表示，解決方案不一定是更高的工資，關鍵在于要多與員工談論薪酬，把問題說得更清楚。他說道：“我們會經常告訴客戶，其實并不需要花更多的錢。他們只需要更清楚地告訴員工，公司為什么按照當前的水平支付薪酬?！?/p>

PayScale注意到，過去兩年績效薪酬其實有所增加，但蒂姆?洛認為：“激勵薪酬的作用不如預期的原因在于，公司往往沒有充分地解釋這種薪酬機制的操作和決策方式?！逼浣Y果就是，64%的員工表示“相比從事類似工作的其他人，他們的收入低于平均水平?！?/p>

這種觀念通常是錯誤的。單從數學角度來看，“64%的比例低于平均水平”這本身邏輯就講不通。研究還進一步指出，“并非所有公司都準備采取透明的薪酬機制”。這在很大程度上是因為，僅有17%的高管對薪酬對話 “非常有信心”。換言之，很多管理者缺乏薪酬談判和對話的能力。

而諷刺的是，在PayScale對7.1萬名員工進行的調查中，有82%的員工表示，如果雇主能夠就自己的薪酬給出一個令人信服的解釋，他們“愿意接受低于市場平均水平的薪酬”。

所以說，“不要認為提高工資就是解決員工保留問題的答案。首先應該嘗試增加溝通?！?財富中文網)

譯者:劉進龍/汪皓

審校：任文科

Every year, compensation firm PayScale does a massive survey on companies’ pay practices. But it’s not often that the researchers uncover as many huge gaps in perception as they did in this year’s report.

For one thing, employee engagement—that elusive enthusiasm about work that keeps people from quitting—“remains more of a buzzword” than a reality, the study says, largely because of “a vast chasm” between what management thinks is happening and what most workers believe.

Consider: About 73% of managers and executives say that employees at their companies are “paid fairly,” meaning competitively with the marketplace and in line with what they contribute. The most profitable companies’ leaders are even more confident, at almost 83%. Yet barely more than one in three (36%) of employees at the same companies agree that they’re paid what they’re worth.

That’s not all. Asked whether employees are “valued at work,” 78% of 6,012 North American executives and managers said yes. Fewer than half (45%) of employees agreed. And about twice as many managers (40%) as employees (21%) said their companies are “transparent about pay.”

None of this would be such a big deal if holding on to key talent weren’t among managers’ biggest worries — or if feeling underpaid weren’t one of the top three reasons the study found that people quit their jobs. Yet it seems that, except in information technology, “retention concerns aren’t translating into raises.” A tiny 8.2% of employers said they planned to use pay hikes to hold on to key talent.

“Of course, pay is only one element of why people decide to leave or stay,” notes Tim Low, a PayScale senior vice president. “But there is a disconnect there. Employers are reluctant to use money to solve the retention issue.”

The reasons aren’t hard to guess. For one thing, offering one person a big salary boost or a retention bonus to entice him or her to stick around sets a precedent for other employees’ expecting the same (or better), and compensation budgets can only stretch so far.

So, how can you keep employees who feel undervalued from heading for the exits? What it might take, according to Low, isn’t necessarily more money. It’s more — and clearer — talk about money. “We often tell our clients that they don’t need to spend more,” he says. “They just need to communicate better about why people make what they make.”

The PayScale study notes the rise of pay for performance in the past couple of years, but Low thinks “one reason incentive pay doesn’t work as well as it should is that there isn’t enough explanation about how it works, and how pay decisions are made.” As a result, the PayScale report says, 64% of employees say they earn “below average” compared to others in similar jobs.

That’s usually a false belief (and not only because it’s mathematically impossible for 64% to be below average). But “not every company is prepared to embrace transparency,” the study notes—largely because only 17% of executives say they are “very confident” in managers’ ability to have difficult conversations with their team members about pay.

The irony there is that, in a separate PayScale surveyof 71,000 employees, 82% of them said they would be “satisfied with below-market pay,” as long as their employer gave a convincing explanation for it. “The moral of the story is, don’t assume more money is the answer,” Low suggests. “Try more communication first.”