Knowing What Everyone's Salary Is

[Gaze]

I definitely think that the opposite extreme, where salary and performance rating information is shrouded in mystery, and lacking objectivity is harmful. If you wonder why Joe in the next cubicle who does your same job makes a shitton more than you without having better skills, more experience or higher performance ratings, that is much more harmful to relationships and trust, and also not good for productivity, because it makes people spend lots of time looking for other jobs.

I think making salaries accessible would make the process transparent, and companies would have to make their evaluation processes for raises, promotions, or demotions public. May lead to less subjectivity especially questionable practices of supervisors or bosses who use their position to unfairly influence salary determinations. And it's good for negotiation purposes. Would help to know if you're accepting much less than you deserve and could get better pay.

 

[MindYourHead]

it's none of anyone's business how much another person makes at their job. nor is it any of their business how they vote, or what their religious affiliations are. they also have no business knowing who they have sex with or when or how.
geez
pathetic how invasion of privacy has been justified once again as something beneficial.

No kidding!
I also find it surprising these days how many people are ok with giving up privacy. I think some are being conditioned that it is ok.
Boundaries, boundaries.

 

[the]

No kidding!
I also find it surprising these days how many people are ok with giving up privacy. I think some are being conditioned that it is ok.
Boundaries, boundaries.

Why do you want your salary to be private? Will you be embarrassed if someone finds out? It's not like someone is finding out that you have genital warts.

 

[MindYourHead]

Why do you want your salary to be private? Will you be embarrassed if someone finds out? It's not like someone is finding out that you have genital warts.

No, of course it isn't the same as that, but I fail to see how knowing what I earn would make someone sleep better at night.
An exception may be for government employees whose wages are paid by the general public through taxes and fees.

It doesn't happen every year, but there have been years when the CEO of the company I work for hands out bonus checks. They usually come as a complete surprise to us.

It is just taken for granted that we are all not given the same amount of bonus money.
The person at the desk next to me performs the same job duties as I do, but our bonus checks may differ depending on our sales the previous year, length of time we have been employed Or, maybe he likes one of us more than the other that particular day the checks are cut. Who knows.
I don't care if she gets more than me. It's equally as possible She gets less. I don't know and don't care one way or the other.
I am just grateful for what I get and don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I don't know. I was just brought up during a time when it was considered rude to ask what someone earns, what they paid for something, or who they voted for, and that was instilled in me.

In the end. It should be voluntary.

 

[bionic]

I am the same way. For example, I know my salary is almost 20k more a year than a lot of people I work with... Sad for them, great for me. But I know there'd be a huge backlash if they knew.

If you don't mind me asking --- is it because you're in a higher position than them or because you have more tenure than your co-workers?

 

[SpecialEdition]

If you don't mind me asking --- is it because you're in a higher position than them or because you have more tenure than your co-workers?

It's because I made demands for my salary/vacation time when they were interviewing me. I have only been there 3 months. Some I have a higher position than, some not.

 

[Rcs6r]

My salary is ALL THE MONEY!

 

[Faye]

That is the way many government agencies work. If you know someones position, which you will if you work there, it shouldn't be difficult to find the salary administration page on the government website and look up how much they make. You wont know exactly how much they make, but you will have a range and can safely assume it is in the lower portion of that range in most cases.

It probably is not a problem if your company does a good job matching people to jobs and balancing work responsibilities. If, instead of a rigid pay structure and ranking system like any government agency will have, salary has been left to the whims of managers, it will bring hell-fire down in the workplace as people realize how unfair their workplace is.

 

[Trifoilum]

Depends on reason and transparency. For example, how is this public information being used by the company to motivate or influence employees? If it's a fair and consistent salary across the board, then it's good for transparency but if there is inconsistency in pay for people in same position with the same years of experience, then this of course can lead to envy and backdoor politicking to get better pay. Or someone who doesn't understand the full requirements of a job may think they have the right to challenge someone else's salary or think they deserve better pay without understanding what that person does.

I've always operated knowing how much the people around me make (due to military jobs). In the civilian world knowing that person A was able to negotiate better pay or worse pay would give me piece of mind when it was time to renegotiate my own pay. If anything I think it would be bad for the company to let the employees know. Did the company go ESOP or something?

How does keeping your pay rate private benefit you or embarrass you? I cant really see any downsides to knowing.

I don't care about people knowing my salary. I do care how horribly I could be treated once they know.

^^^ I can personally vouch for the fact that being on the opposite side of that particular issue sucks. Been there, quit that job, learned a few life lessons in the process.

Not sure I completely love the idea in the OP, but I have experienced the opposite extreme, where salaries are top-secret and highly random. I definitely think that the opposite extreme, where salary and performance rating information is shrouded in mystery, and lacking objectivity is harmful. If you wonder why Joe in the next cubicle who does your same job makes a shitton more than you without having better skills, more experience or higher performance ratings, that is much more harmful to relationships and trust, and also not good for productivity, because it makes people spend lots of time looking for other jobs.

(P.S. but it doesn't mean you have to go and kill Joe or something, you just get a better job or learn better negotiation skills. Jeeze.)

My sentiment is basically a mixture of these statements. To say it has no risk or negative benefits would be insane, but to say that it won't help is also insane.
I think it will impact people differently, not to mention management and office politics and upper management bureaucracy WILL find a way to seep into this so-called 'privacy' and 'accountability'.
It's one of those things that can create big differences, for better or worse.