Knowing What Everyone's Salary Is

Nixie

Nixie

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Okay, just read an article about a company who allows everyone to know what every employee's salary is. The information isn't public but employees have access to a file that allows them to see what everyone is making that works for the company. So, good idea or not? The company president says it makes the workplace more transparent and causes the employees to be more accountable since everyone knows what they are making. One analyst thought it would be an added stressor but another thought it was in keeping with the free-for-all in terms of information that is occurring...that the taboo of talking about how much you make is going by the wayside because people are leaning toward overshare as it is.
 
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I don't know if it's a good idea per se, but I can you tell that I wouldn't mind it myself.

Then again, I've never attached much personal value to salary and/or income. Outside of how it allows me to live life the way I choose, I don't give two shits about it. And certainly not to the extent that many others do where it seems to be a quantification of their value to an organization which, in turn, is a quantification of their social status and value as humans. It amazes me that even amongst colleagues I've known for years, there's still an uncomfortable tone that enters the conversation when the subject of money arises. They'll sooner go into the greatest details about their sex lives and childhood traumas than they'll divulge their salaries.

I dunno. I think that kind of transparency is good in theory, but people are petty and I think it might just cause more divisiveness and resentment. What might work better is having some transparency into the overall company budget; assets and liabilities and that sort of thing as opposed to specific salaries.
 
I think it's a stupid idea. I can't see any logical reason for it. It sounds like something a moron in HR came up with and then used flashy buzzwords which impressed the morons in management.

I also agree with the analyst about over-sharing. I'm starting to wonder if privacy won't become a thing of the past.
 
@Jacobi Well apparently ur lack of intellectual capital is preventing u from adjusting to the evolution of new paradigms that potentiate opportunities for growing the brand. (edit: I died a little inside when I strung that one together)

I'm guessing this is more of a business-world thing. All the places I could work for have well-publicized salary/wage ranges.
 
Jacobi said:
It sounds like something a moron in HR came up with and then used flashy buzzwords which impressed the morons in management.
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If anything, HR would be against this.

I think it's a good idea. It's not about how much someone is getting paid. It's about how much your employer is paying you. If you were a minority/female, you'd see the benefit in this.
 
Well, there is a difference between "ranges" and "your specific salary". I agree with what @Korg said. People are petty and childish in a lot of ways and I see potential angst. Plus, I have also seen the same uncomfortable/awkward silence that the topic of money brings with it. I don't particularly care if people know how much I make. I find just a bit of ambivalence toward the idea that the choice of whether or not this information is relayed doesn't lie in my hands.
 
Meh, I don't know, knowing the ranges people make in the business world is pretty common, everyone in HR and most people in recruiting already has access to this information on everyone in the company, most people who want to find out what their colleagues are making can find a way of doing this surreptitiously (yes, I've done this. it was necessary. shut up.), if you've bought a house your realtor and banker already know, not to mention the tax people and who knows who else, and CEOs and the like are required to divulge how much they make in annual reports, so it is not exactly an unheard of idea.

It does make people uncomfortable. It can be an important negotiation tool, so it is important to find this out if you are trying to make a living. At the very least, the pay ranges and measurement tools and requirements should be easily accessible. It seems fair.
 
o_q said:
If anything, HR would be against this.

I think it's a good idea. It's not about how much someone is getting paid. It's about how much your employer is paying you. If you were a minority/female, you'd see the benefit in this.
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You make a fair point. However, words like "transparent" and "accountable" make me think this was not their primary intention. This just seems like another gimmick to increase productivity.
 
Jacobi said:
You make a fair point. However, words like "transparent" and "accountable" make me think this was not their primary intention. This just seems like another gimmick to increase productivity.
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You might be able to benefit from it either way. Let's face it, nothing a company says is to be trusted. They have their own motives.
 
I'm a privacy freak. I don't even like having to give my phone number to coworkers (largely required in the type of work I do these days). I don't like that people can easily look up my home address and see the market value of the house or that they ask how much I paid for a vehicle or anything else. People are so nosey.

This policy was probably created by some executive at a publicly traded company whose salary was forced to be made public. If I'm going to be held to executive requirements, I want executive compensation. In lieu of wealth and fame, some semblance of privacy should be granted... or at least attempted.
 
I've mostly worked for non-profits where salaries were transparent. I think it does remove a lot of the power plays that can happen in regards to salaries, but then you get into power plays in regards to evaluations. I get the feeling petty squabbles will happen whether people know each others salaries or not. Personally, it doesn't bother me.
 
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.
 
If the company makes consistent and wise decisions about the remuneration, then yes, it's wise. However, as organisations grow, it is more difficult to make sure everything is run well. As a result, in most cases it is a privileged information, and it is at times even a sackable offence to try find out.
 
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.
 
Personally I would love to see how much some of the admins/supervisors/directors make at the hospital where I work.....mother f****krs, sit in the damn conference room with catered lunches 3-4 times a week while another corporate puppet tells them how they are going to have to step on our necks harder (the people in the hospital who actually DO the work) and make the difficult cut-backs. I could care less about how much my peers make, I am sure it is similar to mine and if they make a few bucks more or less than I do then I’m sure that they deserve it for whatever reason. I get irritated by people who sell their soul to gain a title/pay-raise...and no, it cannot go both ways...you are a corporate sell-out bitch or you are on the side of the employees who do the work....at least where I work.
 
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.
 
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I don't care about people knowing my salary. I do care how horribly I could be treated once they know.
 
bionic said:
I don't care about people knowing my salary. I do care how horribly I could be treated once they know.
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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.
 
^^^ 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.)
 
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