Have you ever wondered how much your co-workers earn per year?
Salary is not always the easiest of topics to discuss. One possible reason for it being so sensitive a topic, is that the perception of ourselves and that built by others, is partly based on our professional activity and how much money we make. Others simply see it as plain rude. The reality is that openly talking about salary is not the norm in many countries around the globe. This data is also not readily available online in a number of countries, including Malta.
Employers are often opposed to having employees discuss salaries as this could lead to them asking for flexibility in reward and differentiating between poor and high performers.
While there might be a risk that a push for pay transparency may lead people to focus too much on the final number rather than the effort that is linked to it, no insight at all into remuneration trends, hinders individuals from making informed decisions when it comes to salary negotiation - whether it be while looking for new job vacancies in Malta, aiming for a promotion or simply wanting to know their worth based on experience.
Without knowledge of what the sectoral or national average salary is for their job position, especially when starting a new career path, prospective employees are left with no choice but to take up whatever remuneration package is offered, leading to possible disgruntlement or dissatisfaction later on. Similarly, employees can not be critical of packages well above what is normally paid. Increased reward generally carries greater accountabilities or risk.
Tools such as Salariesinmalta.com provide average salaries of job positions in Malta to which individuals can benchmark their own current and prospective income. This tool goes even deeper and provides salary data based on variables such as age, years of experience and company size.