5 ms·

I've seen this before. Not often, because the companies I have worked at have rarely hired someone from this social strata. But in the cases where we have, I ha

• MattGaiser 5y ago
  > I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because I made more there than I’d ever made before; a daring amount I had been afraid to ask for during the offer process. I discovered through misadventure that I still made less than any of the executive assistants, or the receptionist. I was, in fact, the lowest-paid person in the building including the interns. I hadn’t known what was possible, so I couldn’t even think to ask for what I was worth to them. One of the largest issues which would have caused many of the others on the list seems to be that they were absurdly underpaid. So make sure your co-workers aren't making peanuts compared to you?
  • emteycz 5y ago
    Yeah, it clearly made all involved people uncomfortable. If I knew this I would have serious questions for my next HR one-on-one: "I am not going to work next to an exploited person - are you going to pay up or should I take the next recruiter call I get today?"
  • wdb 5y ago
    One of the reasons why companies don't want you to share your salary ranges with colleagues
• ilikeatari 5y ago
  Other then underpaid like in the other comment another way is to expose yourself out of the bubble. Volunteering if done right can expose you out of it.
• oaiey 5y ago
  Be an ally.
  • SamuelAdams 5y ago
    This is extremely vague.
• Kalium 5y ago
  Adopt a mentee. They need a teacher. Remember that when you offer guidance, it needs to be comprehensible and actionable and directed towards a coherent goal. Telling someone to reflect, for example, is none of those. Instead, tell someone to remember that what people show and what people feel can be different when they assume about another's mental state based on appearances.
• ryanbrunner 5y ago
  Advocate for open salaries in your company. Everyone should know what everyone else makes, or at the very least, what the bands for every position / level of seniority make. Information asymmetry in pay is never to the benefit of the employees, only the employers - so why have it?
• SamuelAdams 5y ago
  Sure. First thank you for the honest question. I was poor growing up. Many things on this list resonate with me, but I'll add a few others. > During middle school, I would often skip lunch altogether. > The first time I went on an out-of-state trip was during college. > I went snowboarding (for the first time) with some friends a few years ago (age 24) and they didn't even balk at the $500 / night room prices for the all inclusive resort. > I now feel rich because my car's check engine light is not on. Ways you can help with this: * Understand that your coworkers may not have the same experiences as you. If someone tells a joke ("Summering in the Cayman islands" [referencing tax evasion or similar]), perhaps pull them aside later, one on one, and explain why the particular thing was funny. * Talk about the last book you read. Why was it interesting to you? Poor people and rich people read very different books. Offering insight into whatever issues you read through books might help them have easier conversations with others. For example I'm currently reading "An American sickness" which discusses the rising cost of health care in America. A poor person would focus on why *their* individual healthcare is so expensive, but a rich person looks at the whole system. And that is what this book more or less discusses. It's not unlike learning a foreign language. Even if you memorize the words and phrases, there's all sorts of ways they are used that can make it difficult to use as a communication tool. Try to identify those odd words or phrases and explain those to others. However this can apply to any company / culture, its not necessarily a rich / poor thing.
• falcolas 5y ago
  Become a friend. That is to say, make their worries, concerns, happiness, and joy as important to yourself as your own. It's easier for a friend to come to you with questions - not only about work, but about life in general.
• tomnipotent 5y ago
  Include them. Invite them to lunch, introduce them to other coworkers, make sure they know about happy hour events or other after-work activities. A few people doing this for me in my early 20s made the world of difference in my life.
• webmaven 5y ago
  I don't have much in the way of general advice other than "try to be inclusive toward people whose experiences and circumstances may not be like yours", in much the same way as male allies should be aware of things that can make women feel unsafe, omnivores should be aware that some folks have dietary restrictions, and so on. Money can pop up as an excluding factor pretty easily. So, for example, insist on a hard (and low, ideally ridiculously low) upper bound on any expenses associated with optional-but-not-really events like gift exchanges or potluck meals. A company-culture norm of spending higher amounts on such things can cause a lot of stress, even if the amounts are still affordable: ie. figuring out a $25 Secret Santa gift is easier than a $50, much less $75, one.