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Half of UK office workers (49%) feel they are not being fairly paid for the hours they work, according to our most recent survey of 5,000 people, which we carried out as part of our Talent Trends series.
The research also discovered that employees in younger age demographics are more likely to feel underpaid. Among employees aged 55+, just 38% agreed with the sentiment “I don’t feel like I get paid fairly for the hours I work”, compared to:
Interestingly, remote employees are more likely than their office-based peers to feel underpaid. Two-thirds (64%) of those who work solely remotely said they aren’t being paid fairly for the hours they work, with half of those strongly agreeing with the sentiment. In contrast, 48% of fully office-based workers and 43% of hybrid workers said they feel underpaid.
Of course, salary is a huge driving factor for most people, so it’s important to understand whether these grievances are based on fact. Fortunately, our research goes deeper than surface-level trends, offering real insight into how employees feel about their current earnings.
With that in mind, let’s dive deeper into our findings:
Just under half (47%) of all employees agreed with the sentiment: “I know the average salary benchmark for my specific role in my industry, and it’s more than I’m paid.”
In other words, these employees aren’t simply guessing at their value; they have done the research themselves and know their current salary doesn’t make the grade. Again, younger employees are more likely to say they’ve benchmarked the salary for their role and found their pay falls short:
Furthermore, there is a significant variance between the proportion of male and female employees who agree with this sentiment. Just over half of men (52%) agree that they are currently paid less than the salary benchmark for their role and industry, compared to just two-fifths (41%) of women.
Similar proportions (50% of men and 40% of women) said they know or suspect that colleagues at the same level as them are being paid higher salaries.
For more insights into what employees in the UK should be being paid, download our exclusive salary guide today.
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Among all UK office workers surveyed, 50% said they have been at their current employer for a long time without receiving a significant pay rise.
These findings were broadly in line with the rest of our survey, with men (54%) more likely than women (47%) to say they’ve gone without a substantial pay rise for some time. Similarly, younger employees are generally more likely to agree with the statement than their older peers:
However, we also discovered that senior employees are more likely than their more junior peers to say they have been waiting a long time for a decent pay rise.
Two-thirds (65%) of employees at board level or above said they have stuck with the same company for a long time without receiving a significant increase in pay, compared to just 47% of employees below board level.
Regardless of their answers to other salary-related questions, respondents were universal in their concerns about rising inflation rates and the associated increase in the cost of living.
In all, just under three-quarters (71%) of employees admit they are worried about the cost of living, such as struggling to pay bills, with those aged between 25 and 54 most likely to express concern:
A similar proportion (69%) of all employees say their pay is not increasing in line with inflation, including 70% of men and 68% of women. The 18 to 24-year-old demographic scored the lowest on this measure, at 59%.
Again, there was no clear variance between employees at different seniority levels, although senior managers or directors below board level were seemingly least concerned, with just 57% saying their pay is not increasing at the same rate as inflation.
Need help finding the first-class candidates you need to drive your business forward? Don’t miss our latest eBook on how to persuade star candidates to join your business, or take a look through our guide to writing a great job specification.
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