Salary satisfaction: Most UK Workers Dissatisfied Yet Few Ask for a Raise

Just why do we go to work? For most of us it’s as simple as money, or wages to be precise. How much we get paid though depends on a range of things such as our employer, the sector we work in or our skills and experience. But just how many of you are actually satisfied with what you get paid? And if you’re not, how many of you ask for a pay rise?

 Recent research by independent pay analysts Incomes Data Services (IDS) shows less than half of workers have asked for a raise despite being dissatisfied with their pay. Data from PayWizard shows nearly half of workers are either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘highly dissatisfied’ with their salary. This compares with a quarter who say they’re ‘satisfied’ or ‘highly satisfied’. These figures are based on a survey of over 13,000 UK workers. When asked ‘how satisfied are you with your salary?’:

• just 4% of workers said they’re ‘highly satisfied’
• 19% said they’re ‘satisfied’
• 29% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
• 26% said that they are ‘dissatisfied’
• and 22% are ‘highly dissatisfied’.

Least satisfied workers

Women reported being slightly more dissatisfied than men. Some 53% of women are either ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘highly dissatisfied’ compared with 47% of men. This is probably due to the gender pay gap – a measure of the difference between female and male earnings. According to official statistics the UK gender pay gap is 17.2%. This means that on average, female workers earn 83 pence for every £1 a male worker earns.

Asking for a raise?

Despite half of workers being dissatisfied with their salary only a minority take action. IDS research shows only 47% of dissatisfied workers asked bosses for a raise. If you work in the commercial services sector you’re more likely to ask for a raise than workers in the public sector. Only 44% of workers discussed pay with their supervisor. And 33% said they expect to be working for their current employer in a year’s time, indicating they’re probably not looking for another job.

PayWizard

This research is based on surveys completed between 1 January 2007 and 31 March 2008 on the PayWizard websites. PayWizard is a joint initiative of the WageIndicator Foundation, Incomes Data Services (IDS) and the TUC. It is an internet-based salary survey through which people can compare their pay to that for people with similar jobs. The concept is used in over 20 countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and South Africa. The PayWizard.co.uk website processes completed surveys and the results of which are automatically entered into a database. The data is tested for reliability and ‘cleaned’ through automatic checks that filter out extreme or impossible answers.