4 ms·

>A major imbalance is information. One radical idea is salary transparency. Publishing only salaries will contribute to the information imbalance because salar

>A major imbalance is information. One radical idea is salary transparency. Publishing only salaries will contribute to the information imbalance because salary makes little sense without a more or less detailed job description. It may make it harder for more qualified working to justify higher salaries that they are expecting.

netcan 8y ago
Detailed job descriptions won't necessarily tell you much either. But... You can still know averages, and distributions and such. I am paid less than 82% of people/engineers at this company. Besides that, you probably know more about your colleagues' contribution than anyone. That's the important comparison. Apart from that, people are emotional, not stupid. We understand prices. People will live with being paid less than others. The transition will be emotional. There'll be a backlog of salary adjustments that will happen. We'll adjust though.
- dgudkov 8y ago
  The point about your colleagues makes sense. However any averages and distributions would be grossly misleading. It's like analyzing home prices without taking into account home design, location, age, neighborhood, etc. Transparent prices make sense when the good is commodity, or the service is highly standardized. When work is becoming a service with many variables publishing salaries would produce confusion and boost feelings of injustice (rightfully or not). I see where you're coming from -- price transparency is typically good for market efficiency. However, providing an adequate, accurate salary information on the job market doesn't seem feasible without structured, comparable job descriptions which doesn't seem realistic. >people are emotional, not stupid. People maybe not stupid (yet stupidity is relative, not absolute), but they are frequently not rational either. People frequently can't adequately estimate themselves. Most drivers thinks they drive better than half of other drivers. Most people think they're more attractive than half of other people. The same happens on the job market too. Imagine, everyone gets a rank on the dating market from 0 to 10. How many people do you think would agree with that rank? How is it different from salaries?

netcan 8y ago

Detailed job descriptions won't necessarily tell you much either. But... You can still know averages, and distributions and such. I am paid less than 82% of people/engineers at this company. Besides that, you probably know more about your colleagues' contribution than anyone. That's the important comparison. Apart from that, people are emotional, not stupid. We understand prices. People will live with being paid less than others. The transition will be emotional. There'll be a backlog of salary adjustments that will happen. We'll adjust though.

dgudkov 8y ago
The point about your colleagues makes sense. However any averages and distributions would be grossly misleading. It's like analyzing home prices without taking into account home design, location, age, neighborhood, etc. Transparent prices make sense when the good is commodity, or the service is highly standardized. When work is becoming a service with many variables publishing salaries would produce confusion and boost feelings of injustice (rightfully or not). I see where you're coming from -- price transparency is typically good for market efficiency. However, providing an adequate, accurate salary information on the job market doesn't seem feasible without structured, comparable job descriptions which doesn't seem realistic. >people are emotional, not stupid. People maybe not stupid (yet stupidity is relative, not absolute), but they are frequently not rational either. People frequently can't adequately estimate themselves. Most drivers thinks they drive better than half of other drivers. Most people think they're more attractive than half of other people. The same happens on the job market too. Imagine, everyone gets a rank on the dating market from 0 to 10. How many people do you think would agree with that rank? How is it different from salaries?