3 ms·

I'm skeptical. Credit checks don't give you an accurate picture of your compensation and it's not like they get your transactional banking history or tax docume

by skeeter2020 7mo ago

I'm skeptical. Credit checks don't give you an accurate picture of your compensation and it's not like they get your transactional banking history or tax documents (yet). Even with that it would be impossible to get an accurate compensation figure within 25%, so while I agree there's an informational imbalance if that's how you're negotiating you've already lost.

BeetleB 7mo ago
Eh, I don't have the link at the moment - it was posted some years ago on HN. In the US, your employer very likely reports your salary to a national agency. And other companies can access it. You can go to the agency yourself, prove your identity, and see all your salary history.
- GJim 7mo ago
  Good lord! I knew the USA has poor data protection law, though the very idea that companies can legally share such personal information is truly mind boggling. Why on earth aren't people doing something about this?
array_key_first 7mo ago
The Work Number by Experian gives all past income information. I think many (most?) companies participate in it, so it's somewhat likely your current income is being reported.
- jcomis 7mo ago
  This is accurate, except theworknumber is an equifax product. Experian and transunion have similar products however that share past comp data in exchange for a fee and/or current data sharing. Basically, "theworknumber" lets employers see what you made previously in exchange for the employer sharing what they pay all/most employees currently. Large companies often share a lot of details too, such as yearly raises, bonuses, weekly rates, etc. Still, it is often inaccurate. For example, I have worked freelance extensively under my name (DBA) and llc and none of it is there. You can pull your record if you want. If your employer uses workday, they almost certainly share every paystub with theworknumber. You can freeze your data: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze HOWEVER, if you do so, many companies won't proceed with an offer until you unfreeze.
- m3047 7mo ago
  See also sibling comment, the Big Three offer free annual credit reports through https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action but I haven't seen work history included. I believe that they do collect & report on this information, but I have been unable to get them to share it with me.
  - browsingonly 7mo ago
    The Big Three have many non-credit-report products, and no they will not share them with the reports' subjects (you and I).

BeetleB 7mo ago

Eh, I don't have the link at the moment - it was posted some years ago on HN. In the US, your employer very likely reports your salary to a national agency. And other companies can access it. You can go to the agency yourself, prove your identity, and see all your salary history.

GJim 7mo ago
Good lord! I knew the USA has poor data protection law, though the very idea that companies can legally share such personal information is truly mind boggling. Why on earth aren't people doing something about this?

array_key_first 7mo ago

The Work Number by Experian gives all past income information. I think many (most?) companies participate in it, so it's somewhat likely your current income is being reported.

jcomis 7mo ago
This is accurate, except theworknumber is an equifax product. Experian and transunion have similar products however that share past comp data in exchange for a fee and/or current data sharing. Basically, "theworknumber" lets employers see what you made previously in exchange for the employer sharing what they pay all/most employees currently. Large companies often share a lot of details too, such as yearly raises, bonuses, weekly rates, etc. Still, it is often inaccurate. For example, I have worked freelance extensively under my name (DBA) and llc and none of it is there. You can pull your record if you want. If your employer uses workday, they almost certainly share every paystub with theworknumber. You can freeze your data: https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze HOWEVER, if you do so, many companies won't proceed with an offer until you unfreeze.
m3047 7mo ago
See also sibling comment, the Big Three offer free annual credit reports through https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action but I haven't seen work history included. I believe that they do collect & report on this information, but I have been unable to get them to share it with me.
- browsingonly 7mo ago
  The Big Three have many non-credit-report products, and no they will not share them with the reports' subjects (you and I).