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If you know the salary of the people you're directly working with, things can get awkward. One alternative is to discuss salary with people who are sufficiently
by sxp 12y ago
If you know the salary of the people you're directly working with, things can get awkward. One alternative is to discuss salary with people who are sufficiently distant from your daily work but are expected to be making the same amount as you. For large companies, this would be people in different divisions who have the same title and years of experience. For small companies, you will probably need to talk to people in other companies.
In my first job out of college, I knew the range of salaries people were earning for entry level software positions because I had discussed this with friends. I negotiated a 10% raise to my first company's starting salary because I used my friends' salaries as a benchmark.
- tbrownaw 12y agoIf you know the salary of the people you're directly working with, things can get awkward. One alternative is to discuss salary with people who are sufficiently distant from your daily work What about things like everyone writing down how much they make and putting it in a hat? Everyone gets all the numbers and how they compare with everyone else, but doesn't know which other number goes with which person.
- speik 12y agoBut within a certain range, I really only care what someone in a similar position to me is making.
- acveilleux 12y agoThis kind of anonymity is dependent on there being enough names in the hat. In small companies, the hat might contain only 2-3 slips.
- elwell 12y agoIsn't that what glassdoor.com is for?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- nickbauman 12y agoHonest question: Why is it awkward? I think if people dig down deep and think about the answer to this question, there is no reason for this. Because nobody is ever paid what they're "worth." Assume for a moment that you don't need the money. Would you show up for your job tomorrow if they stopped paying you? If the answer is "no", I sincerely hope you are looking for a job that the answer could be "yes". If you aren't, then I assert you are in the process of tacit self-immolation.
- poikniok 12y agoHonestly I think it is a bit sad that you cannot imagine that a person would prefer to do something other than work, and that the alternative must be to find other work to do. I have other things that I enjoy that are not my job, such as my family and my hobbies. Maybe look into one day finding something you enjoy outside of work.
- greggman 12y agoThat's a good point. I guess I feel like most people, given infinite money, would still find something of value to others to do. I'm biased as I like coding. Even if I didn't need money I'd still code my own projects. In other words you get 20 million dollars. You quit your job, buy a house, travel the world, but eventually you'll get bored and start doing something. Writing a novel, volunteering, teaching, something that helps others. It's that something that's more than likely something you could get paid for. I'm open to the idea that maybe many people would just do nothing of value to anyone else. I suppose looking at retired people might be a good pool of data. How many of them are doing nothing of value to anyone but themselves and their family and how many are happy and what's the correlation between the two.
- Amezarak 12y ago> Would you show up for your job tomorrow if they stopped paying you? If the answer is "no", I sincerely hope you are looking for a job that the answer could be "yes". If you aren't, then I assert you are in the process of tacit self-immolation. I haven't yet found a job that pays me to sit around and read a lot, or spend time with my girlfriend, or take long walks in the woods to think, or any of the other things I would actually do whether I got paid or not. Let me know if you know where I can find one. It's not that I don't enjoy my work. I just don't enjoy it enough to do on any kind of regular basis without getting paid. Maybe one day I'll somehow come into money and never have to work again, but otherwise I'll be spending the rest of my life in self-immolation. I guess I should feel a little envious of people that enjoy their job so much they'd do it without getting paid, but most of the time I can't muster it up. Most work most people do just seems so dreary to me.
- asgard1024 12y ago> If you know the salary of the people you're directly working with, things can get awkward. It's interesting that it isn't awkward for the managers, knowing how much their reports make.
- davidb_ 12y agoOr for the employee that gets a promotion to manager, and then finds out how much their former coworkers earned.