Key Points
- One in 10 people said they were too afraid to request a pay rise in the past three months.
- Gen Z workers were more likely than millennials to be afraid to ask for a pay rise, despite wanting one.
- Women were three times as likely as men to admit they were too scared to ask for a salary increase.
Millions of Australians have avoided asking their employer for a due to fear of rejection, according to new research.
According to a survey of nearly 700 people from financial comparison site Finder, one in 10 were too afraid to request a pay rise in the past three months — equivalent to 1.24 million Australians who have declined asking their employer for a.
Rebecca Pike, Finder's senior writer on money, said the rising cost of living has intensified the need for households to seek a cash flow increase and many Australians look to meet these demands by assessing their pay.
"Workers are banking on a buffer against inflation and, but many are afraid to broach the subject," Pike said.
The workers not asking for pay rises
Some workers also report more apprehension than others. For example, Gen Z workers were more than twice as likely as millennials to say they haven't asked for a raise despite wanting to, due to fear of rejection (17 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively).
Women were almost three times as likely as men to admit they were too scared to ask for a salary increase (12 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively).
Joseph Carpini, a senior lecturer and researcher from the University of Western Australia's Business School told SBS News the findings that women were more likely to report fear around asking for a pay rise reflects research that men and women approach workplaces differently, including applying for promotions.
Carpini said men are also far more likely than women to put their names forward to be considered for promotion.
"Women are much more tentative and they have a tendency to downplay what is on their resume, and they have a tendency to basically overemphasise the deficiencies that they perceive," he said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the national gender pay gap is 11.5 per cent as of May 2024.
For every dollar earned by Australian men on average, women earned 89 cents, adding up to a difference of $12,038 over the course of a year.
How workplaces can act
Carpini said that there are systemic ways that workplaces can try to overcome these challenges and ensure that women are advocating for themselves more when it comes to issues like pay rises and promotions.
One approach includes ensuring full transparency around human resources decisions and giving workers clear, objective benchmarks because without these policies, there can be ambiguity about why and how these decisions are made.
"What we know is that men are more willing to take on that uncertainty, whereas women are going 'Well, if I'm uncertain then maybe I shouldn't put my and up,'" Carpini said.
"It's around ensuring that the connection between asking and receiving is transparent, clear and equitable."
How to approach asking
When considering asking for a pay rise, Carpini said it's important to do your homework and consider your objective value as compared to the key performance indicators outlined by a job description.
"What I'd really recommend is having some clarity around what are exactly your key arguments for why you deserve a pay increase and how do those arguments relate to how much you're asking for," he said.
Carpini also said it was important to research the realistic increase that employees can ask for at each company, as this figure can vary quite dramatically.
However, for workers who have not been able to secure pay rises, the Finder research also found that 7 per cent of the workers surveyed said they were able to secure a pay increase by switching jobs.
"If your employer hasn't bumped up your salary in line with inflation and you're not prepared to job hop, you might have to take matters into your own hands," Pike said.
