PHI 208 final paper pay
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PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
1
The Importance of Pay Equity and Transparency
Nickole E. Wood
University of Arizona Global Campus
PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning
Paul Boaheng
October 2, 2023
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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The ethical issue I will discuss is pay equity and employee transparency. The
representation is that pay should be standard for employment no matter the employee's
demographic group. The earner's base pay, bonuses, overtime, benefits, and promotions are all
included in pay equity. Pay transparency can assist employees in attaining the goals of efficiently
providing details regarding the pay structure and approving ways to decrease the gender pay gap.
When I started working, discussing your pay and salary was frowned upon. Office
guidelines were in place to restrict any conversations about earnings amongst other employees.
Providing details regarding your compensation could even lead to disciplinary actions. There has
always been a continuing dispute that female employees make a lesser amount of money than
males, even with the attempts to narrow the gap. Some smaller companies reported that
employee's pay data was kept confidential. There may not be a connection between pay secrecy
and pay inequality, and it is believed that it's a significant contributor to the gender gap. In U.S.
History, pay equity has been an ongoing issue. Women and minority groups have been receiving
lower pay for years. Sadly, it has been considered normal and accepted.
The topic of salary earning has caused an ethical disconnect, mainly with the widespread
injustice amongst coworkers. The gap referred to the difference in men's and women's typical
salaries in the workplace. The discussion of pay transparency has several regulations endorsed to
rise the visibility of a company's salary standards.
Having pay equity is for justice and fairness. Justice concerns a standard of right and
wrong when it comes to the capability to critic without considering one's spirits or interests.
Fairness is making tangible and specific decisions in a particular case. Even so, the treatment
people deserve is vital to justice and fairness.
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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Ethical Question: Why is it important to have pay equity and transparency in the
workplace?
Pay equity engrosses any general issues, prejudices, social standards, opportunities to
future education, and factors in specific demographics that could help employees obtain higher-
paying jobs and promotions. An excellent example of this is government agency employees.
They maintain an official grade and step program that will publicly announce wage and salary
information. Knowing what the position pays can play a significant role in motivating people to
apply.
There are many levels of pay transparency, including willingly providing data about the
employment's pay scale and compensation policy to see their employees' pay. One of the main
goals of pay transparency is to encourage equality and fairness at the worksite. "Local, regional,
and national governments across the globe are enacting laws designed to increase the visibility of
pay practices." (Obloj & Zenger, 2023) Despite all the good intentions, it can bring unintentional
effects. Some of them are pay compression and reduced pay distribution, which can cause the
employees to be worried about pay equity.
Philosophy Reading Reflection
“I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say,
"Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown
your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick,
brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you visit the vast
majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the
midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech
stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public
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amusement park that has just been advertised on television; ...when you take a cross-country
drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your
automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by
nagging signs reading "white" and "colored... when you are harried by day and haunted by night
by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never knowing what to expect
next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a
degenerating sense of "nobodyness" -- then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”
King, M.L. (1963)
Dr. King is explaining the reasons to protest instead of waiting. He grew irritated with
just standing by while nothing changed. He wrote during all the acts of violence while receiving
empty promises of change. The message was his outrage at the media of his anger. He was
maddened and over just standing by.
What I took from his letter was Dr. King was detailing the intolerable behavior that was
going on around him. That waiting was no longer a choice. This was intolerable impunity. He
could no longer accept the current situation; he was persistent to change, and everyone was
considered an equal. I agree deeply with his aspiration for equality, honor, and respect. Racism is
a whole world issue, and it takes everyone to change.
I decided to use Dr. King's letter for this case study solely on my desire for fairness and
equality. That is what was most important to him. All workplaces should enforce his emphasis on
behaviors, truthfulness, and principles as their policy. Pay equity and transparency should also
emphasis on justice, impartiality, and ethics. Trust and openness play a critical role in pay equity
and transparency. Personally, honesty embraces a vital role in appreciated relations and
influences. Honesty is crucial for an employee, management, and any future employees. The
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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employer needs to be able to provide potential pay to employees. Also, when applying for a job,
you must be honest with your qualifications. If the job is for the medical field, but you have a
degree in engineering, there may be better candidates. When it comes to ethical inquiries of pay
equity, it will involve the dialectic method. That will include both parties discussing theories,
each considering rules and values, the purpose, and coming to a solid conclusion.
Explanation of First Ethical Theory
Virtue ethics is a philosophy involving inquiries when it concerns morals. The activities
about virtue ethics occur during the development of commendable character traits during a
lifetime. The characteristics are displayed by an individual who acts upon them or due to their
actions. With the proper motivation and feelings consistently by worthy people, that is how the
core ethics takes place for virtue ethicists. However, adequate training is required to build a
honorable charisma and to be sincere with commendable characteristics.
I learned from Aristotle that he displayed much of our Western culture solely on the
virtue character integrities model. It states all things have a reason and meaning. As a person, our
primary goal is self-fulfillment, to accomplish our purpose. It asks what the moral decision is
built on and what person I strive to be. He believed that decency is a learned behavior. The
theory states that virtues are discovered by three things: imitation, internalized, and practice.
Remember when you were a child and learned a lot by imitating what you saw? Internalizing is
doing something not because you are told but because it is correct. Everyone knows the saying,
practice makes perfect. Virtue ethics is best taught using morals, behaviors, and role models. It
can profit everybody by improving joy and happiness while allowing us to work through
predicaments and test our moral differences. Virtue ethics help everyone better understands what
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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it takes to be honorable. It guides us to waking up to live our best life and not laying out
guidelines for solving ethical dilemmas.
Application of First Ethical Theory
We must apply virtue ethics when it pertains to pay equity and transparency. When using
virtue ethics, you measure the pertinent character or ethical traits. This way, you can reflect on
your actions, attitudes, and overall feelings. Reviewing the expected outcome decides the
principles of the action. The act determines the said consequence. Virtue plays the middleman
between all the extras and faults. "This is not only act-utilitarian but "actual consequence"
utilitarianism in contrast to "foreseeable consequence" utilitarianism." (Mill, 2008)
Explanation and Application of Second Ethical Theory
Utilitarian theory is the best outcome for the most momentous amount and what is
considered right and wrong. Per the textbook, utilitarianism believes that actions are right in
quantity as they encourage joy. While wrong, they manage to create the opposite of happiness.
We have made great strides in discussing our details of salary or pay grade with others, which
used to lead to punishment and, in some cases, fines. More employers are accepting pay
transparency procedures and ways to narrow the gap in pay about demographics and promoting a
more optimistic work setting that shapes confidence. Implementing pay transparency can assist
companies in reaching these goals and correcting unintentional moments. Using virtue ethics
theory can help reflect on the conclusion that establishes morality. Therefore, the action will
develop the outcome. Utilitarianism's goal is to do what is morally correct but will also create the
most substantial amount of good for the most people. Using this theory will result in precise
solutions (Mill, 2008)
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Using practicality evaluates the truth to the beliefs by suggesting whichever works: the
action that seems to show and recognize a helpful perception. There is no thought of what
happens beforehand or afterward. The utilitarians would support pay equity and transparency due
to the need. Businesses worldwide have been adopting pay transparency guidelines to assist in
narrowing the pay gap and help build an enjoyable workplace. When you have pay transparency,
it can help companies obtain these goals.
An example would be if you paid women a lesser salary, it could make it difficult for
them to support their relatives. Women receiving equal pay could help improve their capability
from all sides of the economic background. The efforts put forth by state and federally funded
programs are becoming more conventional.
Evaluation of First Ethical Theory Application
The first ethical theory encourages individuals to live their best, honest lives by
promoting honorable lifestyles. Also, while applying a business-level decision. When sharing
pay transparency, the first point of contact should be the employee's supervisor. They are the
ones that have to handle a possible disagreement. "They're responsible for providing disgruntled
employees with the justification for visible pay differentials and responding to their requests for
raises to address them." (Lam, Cheng, Bamberger & Wong, 2022) Virtue ethics will achieve the
pursuit to appreciate and help live a more moral lifestyle. This method of ethics believes we gain
virtue through repetition. Practicing it will help utilitarianist pragmatism indicate the act matters.
The utilitarians would encourage pay equity as well as pay transparency.
When applying the reading reflection to this case study, the personnel seem irritated with
what is taking place. The employer's moral expectation is to obey and handle all pay equity and
pay transparency with impartiality and objectivity.
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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Conclusion
Looking back, it's clear that we have come a long way from suffering consequences at the
workplace if you discuss your pay or position with others. Also, as people, we are responsible for
paying all genders equally if they are in the same group and have the same job, education, and
work background. Doing this will help women promote the highest overall benefits for them and
protect the company from lawsuits. This can also help bring morale to all the other employees
when they feel like they are being treated as equals, which can lead to better production out of
the employees. It doesn't matter if you are male, female, or what race you are; if you have
worked hard for the position, everyone should receive equal pay
.
PAY EQUITY AND TRANSPARENCY
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References
Lam, B. Cheng, H. Bamberger, P. & Wong, M. (2022) Research: The Unintended Consequences
of Pay Transparency.
http://hbr.org/2022/08/reserach-the-unintended-consequences-of-pay-transparency
Mill, J.S. (2008) Utilitarianism In J. Bennett (Ed & Rev.) Early Modern Philosophy
Retrieved from
https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1863.pdf
Obloj, T. & Zenger, T. (2023) Research: The Complicated Effects of Pay Transparency Harvard
Business Review- Compensation and Benefits.
https://hbr.org/2023/02/research-the-complicated-effects-of-pay-transparency
Thames, B. (2018).
How should one live? An introduction to ethics and moral reasoning
.
Bridgepoint Education.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1986).
Letter from a Birmingham jailLinks to an external site.
Links to
an external site.
(A. Hornsby, Jr., Ed.).
The Journal of Negro History
,
71
(1–4), 38–44. (Original
work published 1963)
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