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Easily one of the least surprising research findings I have ever read. This is completely normal in every firm. Places where everyone is paid the same despite

Easily one of the least surprising research findings I have ever read. This is completely normal in every firm. Places where everyone is paid the same despite their differences (eg public schools where the PE teacher is paid the same as the math teacher) are the exception.

capableweb 4y ago
Regardless, always good to have research data behind anything that is "least surprising". Besides, are you really arguing that a PE teacher and math teacher are doing the same work? Seems like two different things to me, that requires two different backgrounds.
- Wolfenstein98k 4y ago
  I don't think they are saying that pay parity is good, just that it exists in relatively few circumstances, and almost always in the public sector.
- stametseater 4y ago
  Obviously different subjects are different things, but there's substantial overlap between the duties and responsibilities of the two. They're both teacher in the educational bureaucracy so they have the same sort of paperwork to file and meetings to attend, and various identical non-classroom duties such as watching over study halls or lunch hour, bus duty, etc. Gym teachers often get tasked with classroom lecturing too (health/wellness, sex ed, etc.)
- huitzitziltzin 4y ago
  Actually I think paying them the same amount is crazy! But I’m glad for the opportunity to clarify in case that was unclear in the original comment. Paying employees differently for similar work is pervasive and can be justified in several ways. Calling it “cartoonishly evil” as a commenter did above is ridiculous. If you don’t like this case, why not mandate a single uniform salary within or across firms? Really looking forward to the inevitable comment from someone who will try to make a case for that wild idea.
  - capableweb 4y ago
    I don't think it's very far-fetched to pay people equally if the work they perform is equal, this is what the article is about. Two people performing exactly the same job duties, getting paid differently because of other variables, not involving what they actually currently do at the job.
- fn-mote 4y ago
  > are you really arguing that a PE teacher and math teacher are doing the same work? The PE teacher and the math teacher are paid the same because they are in the same union, and they collectively decided that they would be better off having a few broad classifications and equal pay for those across the board. Usually this is explained as giving management fewer points in which to drive a wedge to separate union members, and hence divide and conquor the whole collective bargaining unit.
codeisawesome 4y ago
No sorry, this was terribly surprising to me. I am unironically stating that I’m unpleasantly shocked. I would be ashamed to work for these teams as a software engineer. It’s weird, I always intuitively understood that knowledge workers were screwed in this way by HR re: pay equity, stating market dynamics. But even with my unhealthy level of cynicism, I couldn’t stomach hearing the same thing about gig work. It feels like the sacredness of these jobs as society’s unkind-ish fallback for anyone that needs it has been violated. Nothing is safe :(
- huitzitziltzin 4y ago
  Software engineers are also paid differently by company and within companies. I know you know this. They give you different raises according to a highly imperfect measure of your productivity and value to the firm. Two people with identical tenure and identical titles likely have different salaries on average. None of this should be remotely surprising. And what’s the alternative ???
  - flandish 4y ago
    > alternative Unionization.

capableweb 4y ago

Regardless, always good to have research data behind anything that is "least surprising". Besides, are you really arguing that a PE teacher and math teacher are doing the same work? Seems like two different things to me, that requires two different backgrounds.

Wolfenstein98k 4y ago
I don't think they are saying that pay parity is good, just that it exists in relatively few circumstances, and almost always in the public sector.
stametseater 4y ago
Obviously different subjects are different things, but there's substantial overlap between the duties and responsibilities of the two. They're both teacher in the educational bureaucracy so they have the same sort of paperwork to file and meetings to attend, and various identical non-classroom duties such as watching over study halls or lunch hour, bus duty, etc. Gym teachers often get tasked with classroom lecturing too (health/wellness, sex ed, etc.)
huitzitziltzin 4y ago
Actually I think paying them the same amount is crazy! But I’m glad for the opportunity to clarify in case that was unclear in the original comment. Paying employees differently for similar work is pervasive and can be justified in several ways. Calling it “cartoonishly evil” as a commenter did above is ridiculous. If you don’t like this case, why not mandate a single uniform salary within or across firms? Really looking forward to the inevitable comment from someone who will try to make a case for that wild idea.
- capableweb 4y ago
  I don't think it's very far-fetched to pay people equally if the work they perform is equal, this is what the article is about. Two people performing exactly the same job duties, getting paid differently because of other variables, not involving what they actually currently do at the job.
fn-mote 4y ago
> are you really arguing that a PE teacher and math teacher are doing the same work? The PE teacher and the math teacher are paid the same because they are in the same union, and they collectively decided that they would be better off having a few broad classifications and equal pay for those across the board. Usually this is explained as giving management fewer points in which to drive a wedge to separate union members, and hence divide and conquor the whole collective bargaining unit.

codeisawesome 4y ago

No sorry, this was terribly surprising to me. I am unironically stating that I’m unpleasantly shocked. I would be ashamed to work for these teams as a software engineer. It’s weird, I always intuitively understood that knowledge workers were screwed in this way by HR re: pay equity, stating market dynamics. But even with my unhealthy level of cynicism, I couldn’t stomach hearing the same thing about gig work. It feels like the sacredness of these jobs as society’s unkind-ish fallback for anyone that needs it has been violated. Nothing is safe :(

huitzitziltzin 4y ago
Software engineers are also paid differently by company and within companies. I know you know this. They give you different raises according to a highly imperfect measure of your productivity and value to the firm. Two people with identical tenure and identical titles likely have different salaries on average. None of this should be remotely surprising. And what’s the alternative ???
- flandish 4y ago
  > alternative Unionization.