1/3 of older millenials share their salary info with their co-workers

[Marchand63]

As a public employee my salary & overtime is public record, anyone can look it up. As a matter of fact the papers here usually publish the 10-20 highest salaries of public employees.

 

[DLgal]

I think it is long past time that taboo dies, so I find this to be an encouraging trend. As far as I'm concerned the expectation that no one will discuss their salary only benefits employers, never employees, and it particularly disadvantages women who are less aggressive in salary negotiations and more likely to face some degree of pay gap compared to their male peers. But I understand why employers want to keep it taboo, so they can continue to pay less based on negotiating ability and other personality traits rather than according to skills or what the employees bring to the table.

Exactly. And employers could mitigate the issues of raises and bonuses by publishing and sticking with a specific rate schedule for such things rather than issuing them in an arbitrary way. This is how the military and federal government do it because they have to be accountable to taxpayers. It would be nice if other companies could at least be transparent and upfront with their employees.

 

[dish rag]

No. I'm saying one thing often leads to another. I don't think people need to walk around telling everyone how much they make, but I don't get the secrecy if someone asks.

How much do you earn?

 

[dish rag]

Eh, if it's otherwise a decent fit between employer and employee I can't see that happening in most places. Seems short sighted.

At least in professional jobs.

Are you an employer? I am. If you never have been you don't know. If you are an employer, I apologize.

 

[Hikergirl]

No. I'm saying one thing often leads to another. I don't think people need to walk around telling everyone how much they make, but I don't get the secrecy if someone asks.

OK, that makes sense but I disagree a little. In some circles I don't think anything good comes out of knowing.
My dh makes a very good salary. Some people already treat him different because of the money they think he makes. I don't think discussing exact numbers is a good thing, if he makes more than they imagine I'm sure there will be all sorts of drama. I would just rather not deal with that.

 

[dish rag]

Like I said, there are no advantages for the employer. Well maybe if it inspires competition between employees to up their game in some cases.

That's where bonuses for production and showing up on time and not missing work comes into play.

 

[Shanti]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/one-third-older-millennials-share-salary-coworkers-132549341.html

I found this article interesting. I have always been on that mindset that what you make is a private thing and was in the camp of it being "taboo" info to share, especially with co-workers. Apparently (at least according to the survey in the article), it's becoming more of a common thing to discuss. And, I guess I never thought about it in this way, but the article also mentions that discussion of salary with co-workers can be helpful in understanding where you stand when it comes time to discuss salary with management.

Your thoughts? Do you share your salary with co-workers? With members of your family? Do you think it's something that should be taboo or should be openly discussed? Just curious.

I think it's a good thing that more people are comfortable talking about it at work, as that can help reduce unjustified pay inequalities.

Socially, though, I think discussing your salary is gauche.

 

[DLgal]

How much do you earn?

Technically, nothing because I am a stay at home parent.

My husband is an 0-5 with 18 years in the military, if you care to look up his salary. You should also know we get a housing allowance of about $3750/month and a Subsistence allowance of about $250/month. Both are non taxable.

I also work part time from home in the spring scoring standardized tests. I usually gross about $6k each year in about 10 weeks.

Our take home pay, total, is about $125000. Give or take a thousand.

I have no qualms about discussing this.

 

[Sleepy425]

My friends and I share what we make (all the same profession), because so many dentists are trying to underpay us. If we are going for a new job, we will call friends who work in that area of the state to confirm what we should be getting paid. A new dentist took over and made it a fireable offense to discuss salary. Which means he isn't paying the new hires what they are worth, and I let the ones that I like know that ("if you aren't making more than $xx/hr he's screwing you over"). They've been fresh out of school and clueless, but now have found jobs that pay them respectable wages.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I'm 30. My boss has specifically told me that if he hears what I make coming from anyone else,I'm fired. I do make a bit more than all of my coworkers. It is well earned!

 

[shh]

One area I've seen that creates major problems is when you have both employees and contractors (hourly 1099) on same staff. Contractors must earn more - they pay 2x the FICA, extra medicare tax, get no benefits, sick time, worker's comp, and have zero legal protection to collect rightful earnings for their work if the company goes belly up or refuses to pay (unlike employees whose wages are protected by the state.)

Most people who have worked only as company employees have no clue. They only see the higher hourly rate and are resentful. It gets tiresome explaining the differences. That's why I think contractor wages should always be kept confidential.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I was almost fired from my first job way back in the 1980's because a co-worker lied and said I told her how much money I made and it was more than her and she wanted a raise.

I'd never told her a thing. I was the only person in the department who even talked to her. My boss told me she could fire me for telling someone my salary but she believed me (thank goodness because I needed that job!) when I said I hadn't told the co-worker my salary because she'd pulled that stunt before.

Needless to say I never talked to her again after I told her what I thought of her behavior when she tried to cozy up to me at lunch that day after I'd talked to the boss. I was extra careful with all co-workers after that.

Many years after that one of my co-workers was bragging to several of us about her huge raise (that put her WAY above us pay wise). The rest of us were peeved because all this person did all day was personal stuff and chatting on the phone. The boss just liked her.

I was pissed so I found a new job and left the company because I worked my butt off and got no raise that year because "there wasn't money for raises".
So her bragging actually came out better for me in the long run because the new job came with a nice pay bump that I negotiated before accepting the job. I heard she did end up fired for bragging about her salary when the boss's boss heard about it.

So long story short - nope - I would never tell a co-worker my salary. I never even discussed it with anyone other than my husband.

 

[aprilgail]

My husband's pay is public knowledge. Anyone can look it up. As is one of my sisters (public school teacher). You can actually search that database by NAME and get an exact salary.

What good comes from keeping it secret?

My pay was always available to anyone (worked for the railroad) and our teachers salaries are all available too- a web site called see through NY lists them all on there and of course every year or so the newspapers feel the need to publish the salary of the top 100 people at my job who made the most money in overtime.

 

[low-key]

good for them, us older generations have been duked into telling no one, that just what the man wants

 

[mnrose]

I worked, before I retired, in California, where we were required to file salary information on an annual basis for the top executives in our company (who worked in the state). It was very illuminating. It caused me to demand a salary increase when I learned that someone my junior, in every respect, was paid more than me. I told them I would tender my resignation, effective immediately, if my salary wasn't more than his. Period. And, I got it. Keeping salary information private benefits the employer. No one else.

 

[DawnM]

I have several friends who share their salaries with me and I with them, although my salary is posted online, so they can look it up.

DH doesn't share and his firm STRONGLY discourages sharing your salary level with coworkers.

 

[RedAngie]

I don't know what the yungins do at my company, but us geezers generally don't mention salary. However, the salary range for every position is available for anyone who chooses to inquire.

 

[dotfurio]

Anyone can look my salary up - it's public record as a state employee. I've never had issue with sharing my salary, though, even when I worked in private industry. Shady employers are the one who don't like it. They might actually have to pay people fairly. In my private industry job they couldn't get people to apply until they raised the starting salary to higher than what people that had been working there a couple years were making. When we got wind of that we all started looking elsewhere until they decided everyone deserved a salary increase.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Exactly. And employers could mitigate the issues of raises and bonuses by publishing and sticking with a specific rate schedule for such things rather than issuing them in an arbitrary way. This is how the military and federal government do it because they have to be accountable to taxpayers. It would be nice if other companies could at least be transparent and upfront with their employees.

This type of thing protects the so-so worker from falling behind while limiting the employer's options to reward the stars in their organization. Keeping everyone equally mediocre in salary often produces equally mediocre results.

 

[E&Cmom]

I am an unionized nurse and at work we all belong to the same union so it is no big secret. Salary increases by years so it is not hard to figure out what salary range you have.

Eta: I am actually Gen X