The demand for transparency in the workplace has skyrocketed. Today, everyone wants proof that companies pay and promote fairly — from candidates and employees to boards, legislators, and customers, and everyone in between.
Proactively embracing transparency is a powerful way to foster trust, attract and retain top talent, and strengthen your brand. However, this transformative moment is happening against a backdrop of tightening budgets. HR pros today are “more focused on ‘maximizing value within budgetary constraints’ and meeting higher expectations for spending choices.” This means the pressure is on for HR leaders to not only prove their company pays and advances employees fairly and consistently — but also do it as efficiently as possible.
To help HR teams successfully adapt, Syndio has evolved our industry-leading Workplace Equity Platform. Read on to learn how the expanding platform helps organizations do more than keep up with increasing transparency demands — but actually get ahead and win.
What is the transparency era?
When we talk about “the transparency era,” we mean the combined pressures and requirements for companies to be open about and able to explain their pay and promotion practices — and prove they are consistent and fair. These include:
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- Increased regulatory requirements for pay reporting, opportunity transparency, and salary range transparency, including the new EU Pay Transparency Directive, which demands unprecedented transparency in pay and career progression and requires pay equity analysis and remediation (if gaps above 5% are found).
- Heightened employee and candidate expectations for fair, explainable compensation and career advancement due to increased access to salary ranges and pay data and a receding taboo of talking about compensation with peers or even in public forums.
- Active investor engagement in holding companies accountable for disclosing — and closing — pay gaps.
- Leadership and board demands for data-backed insights to drive strategic talent decisions and mitigate risk.
What’s at stake for HR leaders
HR leaders are working diligently to build exceptional company cultures because the positive business impact of doing so is clear — companies that are certified as “great places to work” outperform the market by 3x and are 15x more likely to be chosen by job seekers. But this new era of transparency in the workplace makes it harder than ever to create and maintain the reputation as an employer of choice, especially when budgets are constrained. And the risks are high.
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Attrition: Every employee wants assurance that they are paid fairly and have fair opportunities to advance — or they’ll vote with their feet. → Nearly a third of employees considering quitting their jobs cite “unfair or low pay” as a top reason. → 85% of employees said they would consider quitting after an unfair performance review. |
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Litigation: With pay info in the open, pay inequities leave you vulnerable to lawsuits. → Syndio estimates that 2023 judgements for unfair pay reached nearly $1B. |
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Inefficient spend: Misdirected investments that fail to address root causes waste valuable HR resources with little progress to show for it. → McKinsey estimates that companies globally spent an estimated $7.5 billion on DEI-related efforts in 2020 — projected to reach $15.4 billion by 2026 — but without “solutions that address root causes with scalability in mind”, companies aren’t actually impacting the global pay gap. → According to Gartner, the longer a company delays addressing pay inequities, the more remediation costs grow — increasing on average by $439,000 every year you wait or fail to address it. |
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Compliance delinquency: The maze of transparency laws across the globe are complex — and failure to comply can be costly. → A major brand recently settled for $3.8 million for failing to comply with pay transparency requirements. |
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Brand damage and recruiting challenges: Fair pay and open communication are non-negotiable for today's job seekers — companies unwilling to be transparent are losing the talent war. → Talent Board research reveals that disclosing salary upfront in job postings increases perceived fairness by 30% and the likelihood of referrals by 132%. → Data from Gartner shows that nearly 70% of employees would take one job offer over another based on the organization's transparency practices. |
| Shareholder pressure: Investors want to ensure future company growth with the assurance that talent is being nurtured efficiently, and that the brand isn’t at risk of litigation or reputational crisis. |
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Leadership misalignment: Lack of data weakens your ability to achieve buy-in and accountability for change management. → According to HR Dive, “CHROs are focused on the bottom line for the board, often looking for new ways to measure business impact and deliver more value.” |
How can you transform transparency challenges into opportunities?
Transparency demands have soared while resources have shrunk. For HR teams that still rely on siloed data, systems, and processes, the sheer volume and rapid evolution of transparency requirements will outpace HR’s ability to keep up — jeopardizing compliance, employer brand, and shareholder relations.
However, with the right approach, these challenges can be transformed into an opportunity to build trust and create a high-performing culture. To win the transparency era, HR leaders need a way to to:
- Build a culture of trust by achieving equity and consistency in pay and opportunities — and then proving it with data
- Comply with all legal and regulatory requirements for disclosures and reporting with a unified and consistent narrative
- Do all of this efficiently, faster and with fewer resources.
Introducing Syndio’s expanded Workplace Equity Platform
Syndio’s Workplace Equity Platform is tailor-made to give HR teams a one-stop shop to win the transparency era. By combining analytics, actions, and amplification in one platform, you can centralize your transparency strategy, get proactive, and prevent problems before they start.
To stay ahead of the urgent needs of the ever-changing transparency era, Syndio is continually innovating new solutions by bringing together our expertise and insights from our customers who are leading the charge in creating equitable workplaces. The latest updates to the Workplace Equity Platform include:
- Global Pay Reports: This new reporting solution simplifies the creation of pay reports across 29 jurisdictions. Launching later this year, an integrated AI expert, trained on proprietary information, will provide 24/7 guidance to ensure companies stay compliant with evolving transparency regulations.
- PayEQ® Compensation Consistency Analysis: Expanded analytics in PayEQ help resolve inconsistencies in employee compensation, providing detailed analysis to ensure equitable pay practices throughout the organization.
- OppEQ® Performance Equity Analysis: OppEQ now includes performance equity, extending its analytics to cover promotions and performance assessments. This enhancement identifies biases and inconsistencies, providing a holistic view of the key drivers of the unadjusted pay gap.
- Upgraded Pay Finder™ functionality: Pay Finder now provides more robust and customizable features. Administrators can set precise policies and manage user access to data, putting the right insights in the hands of decision makers. This enhancement ensures consistent, equitable, and transparent pay decisions throughout the employee lifecycle — resulting in up to 70% reduction in remediation costs.
Why Syndio is the only solution that can help you win the transparency era
To win in this complex and rapidly evolving era, you need a comprehensive approach, powered by technology and supported by experts. Syndio’s Workplace Equity Platform provides secure, hands-on solutions that give you full control over your analysis — because to justify your decisions and embed equity into your company, a “black box” analysis won’t cut it anymore.
And with Syndio, you also get more than just software: you also get plugged into our in-house team of experts who are with you every step of the way, from custom analyses and enablement to global pay reporting and communicating about workplace equity to all of your stakeholders. We’ll help you navigate the constantly shifting landscape of transparency demands, ensuring you stay ahead of changing legislation, employee pressures, disclosure requirements, and industry scorecards.
There’s a reason why Syndio is the choice for over 320 customers, including 30% of Fortune Most Admired Companies and 52% of pay equity software buyers.
Wherever your organization is in your transparency journey, Syndio can help you accelerate your progress so you can thrive.
Talk to our team to learn how you can level up your transparency readiness.
The information provided herein does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials are provided for general informational purposes only. The links to third-party or government websites are offered for the convenience of the reader; Syndio is not responsible for the contents on linked pages.
