One in five (18%) employees discuss their salary with their colleagues while more than half (53%) talk about how much they get paid outside of the workplace with family and friends.
In addition, more than one in six (15%) said they would read a colleague's payslip if they found it on their desk and were confident no one was watching them, according to research by the Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP).
Elaine Gibson, senior policy and research officer at the IPP, said: “Talking about how much money one makes is usually a social taboo in the workplace and most of the time there is an implicit understanding amongst colleagues not to their discuss salaries.
“Many organisations discourage workers from talking about their pay, some even going as far to implement clauses into employment contracts requiring confidentiality on pay.
“However, this will all change in October when the Equality Act 2010 will ban ‘gagging’ clauses which forbid staff members from comparing their pay levels with other employees.
“This will hopefully make organisations’ pay structures more transparent and will expose the pay gaps between employees who perform the same roles, especially in the cases of gender and disability-based inequality of pay.”
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