4 ms·
Why should someone more qualified make less just because they are a bad negotiator or just unaware of what everyone makes? Employers typically want this inform
by bigtunacan 11y ago
Why should someone more qualified make less just because they are a bad negotiator or just unaware of what everyone makes?
Employers typically want this information because as a whole it is in their favor, not the employees' favor to keep this information from being disclosed.
I have experience working in both the private and public sector.
Private sector salaries (USA) are typically not publicly disclosed and companies often have policies forbidding disclosure despite laws that say this is not enforceable.
Public sector typically is disclosed so anyone can just look it up.
My experience has been it is more difficult to negotiate salaries when salaries are not disclosed. In the negotiation it is very beneficial to show relative value and say, "I am more productive than 80% of the team, but getting paid at the median, so I deserve a raise." When salaries are unknown the company can more easily make claims that they just can't give you a raise because it wouldn't be fair to everyone else etc... You can always move to a different company, but if you aren't wanting to make a move that is not helpful.
- aantix 11y agoYou really don't want to negotiate against the other open salaries. Know your worth; if the product you work on brings millions to the table for the company and you are the lead dev, who gives a rap if your introverted programming partner is making 100k? Know your value. Quantify yourself. Negotiate from the value you bring. Otherwise you're leaving that analysis up to someone else and their offer certainly isn't going to favor you.
- bigtunacan 11y agoWorth is always relative. What metric shall I base it on? If I base it against the salary of all similarly experienced programmers in the world then it is lower than if I narrow it to just the United States. If I narrow it to the United States it may be too high if I live in a smaller rural area with less jobs and am unwilling to move. Then I can narrow it down to my region, but then I may undervalue myself as I could always telecommute. Measuring ones value is always relative and open salaries are to the benefit of the employee not the employer.
- aantix 11y agoOf course it's relative, but your average Joe programmer is going to take the same strategy, so what, you're going to end up grouped into the pool of average salaries. Super. If you're not that great of a programmer, then stop there. But if you feel like you make a higher contribution, that the very code that you write is relied upon for generating millions of dollars, why would you frame the discussion around what Average Joe is making down the hallway? These numbers don't matter because you're not like them anyway, and it's up to you to frame your story differently. Show them the numbers. Get the outlier deal. Then take your family on vacation to a remote island. Save extra and not work for 6 months. Get a fucking better than average deal and don't worry about Sad Sally who can't figure out her own worth to get a descent deal.
- sosuke 11y agoI feel like you're approaching it from the concept that the world should be fair. I'm coming from the other angle. What if you ask for a raise and they said something such as "we can't give you a raise because we can't afford to give everyone a raise." Seems like the knowing of salaries doesn't cure that. "We don't have anymore budget" "We don't have any room for another senior blah"
- bigtunacan 11y agoIt would be great if the world was fair, but I'm a realist. You seem to mistakenly believe that an anonymous salary benefits you, if that was the case companies wouldn't go to such lengths to keep a lid on it.
- sosuke 11y agoI'll say I don't know if it does or doesn't but I haven't talked salary in public after being judged by it and subsequently treated differently by my 'friends' I don't discuss numbers as a general rule