Has it ever occured to you how strange it is that we don’t discuss salaries? And it’s been virtually impossible to get this information online or from any other source, so not talking about salaries means that we are all pretty much in the dark about them. So why is this? Who benefits from keeping all of this a secret? Some people say that it’s “personal information” but it’s not like a social security number- no one could get a credit card in your name or steal your identity just because they knew your salary. And as far as private, we as Americans are quite open about other “private” details including how many years of therapy we may have had or even intimate details about our sex lives. But we shut our traps in a hurry when it comes to salary information. What are we worried about?
Are we worried that people will judge us by the number that is our salary? Are we worried to find out that we actually earn less than our co-workers for the same job? Or that we are earning more than our co-workers? Who is this world of salary secrecy serving? I would argue that it is serving the employer. In any situation where there is not perfect information, it is going to benefit one side. When employees don’t know how much they can or should be earning, it allows the employer to pay wide ranges on the same job- and then it’s up to the job seeker to negotiate. But we alreay know that women on average earn about 60 cents on the dollar and minorities are also subjected to a discounted paycheck for the same job. What if women and minorities knew exactly what others (mainly white males) were earning- wouldn’t it be harder to have a discrepancy? I think yes. Write a line and let us know what you think.
