Secret pay scales
Why is it that one’s salary is such an incredibly sensitive topic in America? (Do other countries have this attitude as well?) Not knowing what other people in your company make is harmful to you, because you can’t be sure you’re not getting screwed. Why can’t more companies have open compensation policies? And further, why can’t workers push for this? Is open pay much more standard in unionized industries?
August 1st, 2006 at 15:06
It’s a norm enforced by employers because it’s to their benefit, and yes, pay scales are transparent under every union contract I’ve ever heard of.
August 1st, 2006 at 16:32
Sure. I’m just surprised that more employees don’t seem to resent this. Whence the taboo?
August 1st, 2006 at 16:35
Employers have successfully sold it as nosy and uncouth to want to know what your fellow employees are making. And in at least some workplaces, you can get fired for sharing salary information.
August 1st, 2006 at 17:00
You really think employers are responsible for the social attitude?
August 1st, 2006 at 17:07
“pay scales are transparent under every union contract I’ve ever heard of”
Just for the uninionized job itself, or also for management?
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:34
Yes, I absolutely do. People really no-shit get fired over spreading salary data around, and the excuse is that it’s private. If Ideal weren’t out of town, I’d call him over here — he spent most of his worklife in the Army, where salaries are transparent, and the taboo doesn’t make any sense to him. It only exists because employers push it.
And I don’t think that transparent salaries for a unionized workforce have any relationship to transparency in the salaries of management for that workforce.
August 2nd, 2006 at 9:41
Well, it’s just that it seems like employers are taking advantage of a pre-existing taboo against talking about salaries to use an excuse. But I don’t see how the companies’ actions could create the cultural attitudes in the first place.
Then again, I can see how they’re maintained by companies’ policies. If companies dropped the pay secrecy policy, the cultural attitude would eventually go away. But it seems like the attitude predated that. Or did it?
August 2nd, 2006 at 10:18
No, I’m pretty sure it didn’t. In workplaces where the employer doesn’t enforce secrecy, the taboo doesn’t exist. (Which is why I brought up Ideal and the Army.) It’s pure scam.
February 18th, 2007 at 15:40
We agree that secret payscales are horrible. To combat them, we’ve started a blog to help get salary information public through anonymous sharing. Help us get this blog started!
http://feelingunderpaid.blogspot.com/