If more people knew how much their colleagues earned, it would help prevent discrimination and close the gender pay gap, a newly-published report in Finland has claimed.
Findings recently released by Jukka Maarianvaara, Finland's ombudsman for Gender Equality, show that women in the country still earn on average 16% less than their male counterparts. Moreover, the main barrier to equal pay faced by women and other lower-paid workers is a lack of available salary information, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle reported.
But according to a Eurobarometer survey published last year, 80% of Finnish workers already know what their close colleagues earn. The incomes of Finland's top earners are likewise made public by the Finnish Tax Administration, Vero.
Interestingly though, the Eurobarometer survey revealed that Finnish workers are not completely happy about letting others know how much they take home themselves. The poll revealed that, although 80% of those questioned in Sweden liked the idea of an open pay policy, only 58% of Finns were in favour.
While the salaries of Finnish public sector workers are made freely available, the report said it was not so easy to compare wages across the private sector.
As a result, the equality ombudsman's report indicated that Finland needed to hold an open discussion about wages before any real progress could be made in closing salary gaps. It also suggested that greater transparency around salaries would make it easier for workers to raise concerns about pay discrepancies.
Maarianvaara pointed out that, unless employees know what others are earning, they would struggle to even realise they were being discriminated against.
Gill Oliver is a business and property journalist who has written for The Daily Mail/Mail Online's This is Money, The Press Association and many national and regional newspapers and magazines.
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If more people knew how much their colleagues earned, it would help prevent discrimination and close the gender pay gap, a newly-published report in Finland has claimed.
Findings recently released by Jukka Maarianvaara, Finland's ombudsman for Gender Equality, show that women in the country still earn on average 16% less than their male counterparts. Moreover, the main barrier to equal pay faced by women and other lower-paid workers is a lack of available salary information, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle reported.
But according to a Eurobarometer survey published last year, 80% of Finnish workers already know what their close colleagues earn. The incomes of Finland's top earners are likewise made public by the Finnish Tax Administration, Vero.
Interestingly though, the Eurobarometer survey revealed that Finnish workers are not completely happy about letting others know how much they take home themselves. The poll revealed that, although 80% of those questioned in Sweden liked the idea of an open pay policy, only 58% of Finns were in favour.
While the salaries of Finnish public sector workers are made freely available, the report said it was not so easy to compare wages across the private sector.
As a result, the equality ombudsman's report indicated that Finland needed to hold an open discussion about wages before any real progress could be made in closing salary gaps. It also suggested that greater transparency around salaries would make it easier for workers to raise concerns about pay discrepancies.
Maarianvaara pointed out that, unless employees know what others are earning, they would struggle to even realise they were being discriminated against.
Gill Oliver is a business and property journalist who has written for The Daily Mail/Mail Online's This is Money, The Press Association and many national and regional newspapers and magazines.
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Finland: Is it really 'the sick man of Europe'?
