Why is Compensation in the Office Shrouded in Mystery?
Talking Compensation Among Your Co-workers & Even Peers Can be a Sensitive Topic.
This could go many ways some scenarios could be any of the following:
· The compensation is equal. Potentially no action taken or any feelings develop from the conversation (it might comfort some).
· You could be making more than that coworker in which case it might be a good time for them to potentially reevaluate their compensation.
· The compensation could be less for you and you could potentially develop several feelings about this.
These aren’t the only scenarios like I mentioned this could go many ways.
Regardless engaging in these conversations can be quite uncomfortable and even troubling as many of us are taught to shy away from compensation or just money/personal finance talk in general.
Personally, I’m an open book I’m happy to discuss these topics with any of my coworkers or peers. Why? Simply because I believe the more information among employees the better employees can use that information to better each other through collaboration and not competition. Platforms like LinkedIn & Glassdoor providing market compensation information (salary, 401k, health, stock, etc.) is useful for evaluating offers, asking for a promotion, and lessening the pay gap.
Who benefits from these conversations not being had or there being a culture of secrecy around them?
In my opinion, mainly the company.
At the end of the day companies are businesses but so are the people who run those companies with their own interest. Some of those interest could include but are not limited to for example, top executives prioritizing their yearly salaries (Top Execs Make 271 Times More Than Workers), reporting better numbers that quarter or cutting cost for shareholders. If the information is kept a secret then they get to decide what the rate is for everyone. Making our individual bottom line suffer.
In an era of anti-unions and compensation getting stripped more and more from benefits enjoyed by past generations (pensions, extensive health care, stock options, etc.) it isn’t completely beneficial for there to be secrecy around this topic. This secrecy culture in my opinion is the main culprit for compensation discrepancy between men and women, minorities in the workplace, among other groups. African American Women make $0.68 for every $1 the average white man makes.
The term information asymmetry comes to mind when thinking about salary in the workplace. The term above happens when one party (the company) to an economic transaction has more information than the other party (us). Due to laws introduced over decades ago which stemmed from the labor movement of the 20th century to today’s equal pay among genders it is your legal right to speak on these topics if you choose to.
I’m not proposing for you to walk around the office with your gross salary taped to your back and that there be an all hands meeting where everyone discusses their specific compensation. What I am saying is if the conversation comes up maybe consider engaging in a productive dialogue.
Credit Yahoo Finance
The trend is going towards millennials, and my upcoming generation x (1997+) being more open to having these conversations among family, peers, and coworkers. As we continue to open up and collaborate among one another rather than competing I believe the future will be one where people are more financially empowered.
Check out this video as a great supplement to this topic from “Adam Ruins Everything”:
<a href="https://medium.com/media/6181e62ff3f44d25ccb3ef13e213c639/href">https://medium.com/media/6181e62ff3f44d25ccb3ef13e213c639/href</a>
What do you think? Should compensation conversations in the workplace continue to be shrouded in secrecy? Have you had a conversation about this with a coworker and if so what was the result afterwards?