3 ms·

Should Your Salary Be Made Public?

6 points by kirtijthorat 13y ago

dalke 13y ago
Absolutely. Private salary data is mostly to the advantage of the employer. When you negotiate your initial salary, you are at a disadvantage because you have less information than the employer. At the start of your career you have very little information about the job market and what your position is worth to a future employer. Your initial salary is often the base for future income. There's obvious problems when people don't know how much they should be paid. I need only point to the history behind the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 as a real-world example. Moreover, public salary information is not inherently corrosive to a job environment. Public service salaries (like when I worked for a university) are public in the US, as are all salaries in some countries (I'm thinking specifically of Sweden).
- collyw 13y ago
  I completely agree.
Randgalt 13y ago
I'm not telling you mine :) Use Glassdoor for averages.
- collyw 13y ago
  You are part of the problem then :) Giving complete advantage to the employers. (Have you noticed IT wages going down over the last ten years? They certainly have here in Europe).
skywhopper 13y ago
As I have worked for public universities for the past 14 years I've gotten used to this particular tidbit of knowledge being public information. The only time it's a problem is if pay is unfairly distributed among the workers. In which case it's a good thing to be aware of. Public salary data would help everyone understand what their jobs are really worth. Credit reporting agencies, banks, the government, management, and the NSA all know everyone's salary. Why should the bottom rung workers be the only ones left in the dark?
atmosx 13y ago
That's a cultural matter above anything else. The salaries in question[1], are considered absurd in Greece. Try posting online that you get that amount of money and you're going to receive phone calls from people asking for some financial help. So, I consider my salary a sensitive information and wouldn't want to see it online. If my boss - I don't have any, though - would want to do that, I would be against it, but not eagerly. As far as the average salary for a given position goes, shouldn't unions and teh state, by imposing the lowest limit, handle the matter? In Greece the lowest pre-crisis 2010 (2008 started, but 2010 shit hit the fan), lowest salary was 620 EUR. Of course, you can't live in Athens with such a low salary if you don't own your house. Now I think it's something like 586[1] and probably going down in order for Greeks to become more competitive. Although competition against more advanced technologically, financially and industrial countries having the same currency, it's a receipt for poverty[3] (which is what is happening after all). [1] http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/wp-content/blogs.dir/2304/files/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-24-at-4.43.29-AM-copy.jpg http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/wp-content/blogs.dir/2304/f... [2] http://ergatika.gr/sse/egsse/ http://ergatika.gr/sse/egsse/ [3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10198686/Fifth-of-Greeks-live-below-poverty-line.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10198686/...

6 points by kirtijthorat 13y ago

dalke 13y ago

Absolutely. Private salary data is mostly to the advantage of the employer. When you negotiate your initial salary, you are at a disadvantage because you have less information than the employer. At the start of your career you have very little information about the job market and what your position is worth to a future employer. Your initial salary is often the base for future income. There's obvious problems when people don't know how much they should be paid. I need only point to the history behind the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 as a real-world example. Moreover, public salary information is not inherently corrosive to a job environment. Public service salaries (like when I worked for a university) are public in the US, as are all salaries in some countries (I'm thinking specifically of Sweden).

collyw 13y ago
I completely agree.

Randgalt 13y ago

I'm not telling you mine :) Use Glassdoor for averages.

collyw 13y ago
You are part of the problem then :) Giving complete advantage to the employers. (Have you noticed IT wages going down over the last ten years? They certainly have here in Europe).

skywhopper 13y ago

As I have worked for public universities for the past 14 years I've gotten used to this particular tidbit of knowledge being public information. The only time it's a problem is if pay is unfairly distributed among the workers. In which case it's a good thing to be aware of. Public salary data would help everyone understand what their jobs are really worth. Credit reporting agencies, banks, the government, management, and the NSA all know everyone's salary. Why should the bottom rung workers be the only ones left in the dark?

atmosx 13y ago

That's a cultural matter above anything else. The salaries in question[1], are considered absurd in Greece. Try posting online that you get that amount of money and you're going to receive phone calls from people asking for some financial help. So, I consider my salary a sensitive information and wouldn't want to see it online. If my boss - I don't have any, though - would want to do that, I would be against it, but not eagerly. As far as the average salary for a given position goes, shouldn't unions and teh state, by imposing the lowest limit, handle the matter? In Greece the lowest pre-crisis 2010 (2008 started, but 2010 shit hit the fan), lowest salary was 620 EUR. Of course, you can't live in Athens with such a low salary if you don't own your house. Now I think it's something like 586[1] and probably going down in order for Greeks to become more competitive. Although competition against more advanced technologically, financially and industrial countries having the same currency, it's a receipt for poverty[3] (which is what is happening after all). [1] http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/wp-content/blogs.dir/2304/files/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-24-at-4.43.29-AM-copy.jpg http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/wp-content/blogs.dir/2304/f... [2] http://ergatika.gr/sse/egsse/ http://ergatika.gr/sse/egsse/ [3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10198686/Fifth-of-Greeks-live-below-poverty-line.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10198686/...