Katie Hunter
April 24, 2025
Media ArticlePay transparency and equity are here to stay, and employers need to look at how they will share the information with job seekers and internally with their employees within their companies.
Katie Laven, Compensation Business Partner with MRA, shared great details at the 2024 AgCareers Agriculture & Food Roundtable Conference and information about what employers need to consider and what factors to consider when looking at pay transparency and equity. As legislation pushes companies to share their compensation information more readily, a clear plan of communicating compensation information transparent and openly is critical.
“Organizations can utilize data to improve their decision-making and make informed decisions regarding compensation,” says Laven.
While there are many different data sources, companies need to ensure that they are using high-quality data that reflects the market in which they do business.
Laven says a few key things to consider when evaluating the compensation structure and rollout of pay transparency. A company can look to various surveys and salary benchmarking to ensure they are on the right track. Notable items to look at when evaluating the data they are using include:
“In the current employment landscape, wage data is everywhere, employees have access to information and wage data is more reliable than in the past,” says Laven. The current reality based on the statistics she shared is that:
Based on the statistics, pay transparency is important for the various phases of employee involvement with your organization, from applications and recruitment to employee satisfaction and retention.
Pay equity's role in your organization drives the need for strong team education that shares information about compensation and a clear communication strategy so that employees understand the various components of their compensation package.
Laven shared that when looking at data to ensure your company is aligned with industry averages, it is important to consider what you are hiring and recruiting for so that you think that when deciding who to compare your findings to. Data can help us to make smart, informed decisions to be competitive in the current employment market.
If your company is looking for data specific to agriculture and food roles, AgCareers.com has you covered with the Compensation Benchmark Review. Over 150 North American Agribusiness Employers utilize this tool, with over 200 positions and 90,000 employees benchmarked. This gives a comprehensive look at agriculture-specific data.
