Pay transparency to become the norm – key takeaways from Future Forum 2023
Over 350 reward professionals representing more than five million employees and 41 exhibitors were at REBA’s Future Forum. The day consisted of keynotes, focused talks, workshops, discussion groups, facilitated knowledge exchange and a comprehensive exhibition.
Delegates were given the opportunity to review, reflect and react to the trends that are shaping the workplace right now. For those unable to join us, here are our four key takeaways from the event:
1. Pay transparency will become more common
“The trend for more pay transparency legislation is going to continue,” Justine Woolf, director of consulting at Innecto, told delegates.
Outlining what the forthcoming US Pay Transparency Act 2023 and the EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023 mean for reward professionals, Woolf explained that pay transparency has ramifications for the ability to attract and retain workers. It can also have an impact on companies' gender pay gaps.
“In a world where we are sharing more data, we're also seeing that people have very little hesitation sharing salary information, especially women and people under the age of 40. There is a trend of being more open about sharing salary information,” she added.
2. AI will improve productivity
“A tsunami of information is coming at us all the time,” keynote speaker Simon Greenman, global AI and technology innovator, told delegates at the start of the event. “Generative AI tools will help us get our arms around this knowledge.”
AI will also have a significant impact on productivity. Simon cited research from MIT, which demonstrates a 37% increase in productivity when using ChatGPT. “AI becomes a tool that works with us as a co-pilot,” he said. “It’s a way to help share and boost knowledge throughout organisations.”
But he had a word of warning: we must consider and be cognizant of risks associated with integrity and trust, legal and regulatory issues and macro questions including job losses and environmental issues.
3. Medical inflation is one pressure, among many, that reward professionals are facing
“What employees are asking for is expanding. The population's needs are changing and providers' infrastructures are changing,” Dr Mridula Pore, co-founder of Peppy told delegates during a panel discussion.
The other two panellists agreed that medical inflation has been around a long time and is one pressure among others. “Medical inflation has always been here and it's not new to us,” said Anna Cotgreave, head of reward and benefits UK at Clifford Chance. The law firm has started signposting employees to all the medical benefits it offers so that that PMI isn't the first port of call when they need medical help.
Samantha Sergent, director, international benefits, Microsoft added: “I don't think medical inflation is a gamechanger. Of all the areas of inflation, medical was just one more variable on the table for us.”
She urged the profession to think about the solutions eco-system in benefits tech. “I have more benefits apps on my phone than any other [type of] app and that is not a good experience. How do we get away from having so many different apps? We need to ask our suppliers how they interplay with each other.”
4. Employers should encourage openness about financial wellbeing
“Storytelling is becoming really important in financial wellbeing,” Sarah Long, director at WEALTH at work told attendees. “We've seen leaders talk about their mental health. If you can get people to talk about money that's the biggest thing.”
Financial wellbeing remains the awkward piece of the puzzle with physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing and social wellbeing, explained Long. Part of that is because people don’t like talking about their finances. Getting employees to engage can be difficult.
“It's getting people used to talking about their finances, giving them the opportunities for one to ones to talk it through. And it should come from the top of the company,” she added.
