Reality check: disclosing salaries online

[nota bene]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

 

[mak2]

The Feds have always done this. Private sector hates it cause it causes a lot of employee resentment.

 

[nota bene]

Yes, and at least in my state, state employee salary ranges are available online. Ranges. But this is about private-sector policy. I've just never heard of this, and I told my friend I would ask. She wants to know if there is something she should do. I've already told her probably not, but this isn't the first crazy thing I've heard about this corporation. I almost swooned two weeks ago when I heard about some of the sexual harassment. In 2016 a woman can come up to another woman and repeatedly flop her boobs on her back or grab her butt? Seriously?

 

[ecofarm]

What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

Transparency regarding favoritism and gender-based glass ceilings. Those making the big bucks better earn it or they deserve to be resented.

 

[nota bene]

Transparency regarding favoritism and gender-based glass ceilings. Those making the big bucks better earn it or they deserve to be resented.

I understand providing ranges but not exact amounts. And these can be variable simply because of seniority.

 

[ecofarm]

I understand providing ranges but not exact amounts. And these can be variable simply because of seniority.

No one resents seniority pay. Let's see what women are paid compared to men.

 

[nota bene]

I doubt that this is an issue. if it were, my young friend would've mentioned it. In fact, her salary is higher than others with her job title even though she has worked for this corporation for only six weeks because she was asked her salary requirements during the interview and was given it based on her ten years of experience in this business.

 

[Glen Contrarian]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

Y'know, after twenty years in the Navy, knowing pretty much what everyone earned and everyone knowing what earned, I discovered that's really not a bad thing...because there's no more suspicion, not so much jealousy, no questions of whether someone's getting paid the same amount for the same level of work.

Now some want to say that's a bad thing because people of the same rank often don't give the same level of performance...but you know what? Most of the time, that's not just the fault of the worker, but it's also the fault of the supervisor who's not a good enough supervisor to get the best out of his or her workers. Besides, it's up or out - if someone's not good enough to not just perform well but to earn his or her way up the ranks, then that person - if he or she is still a relatively junior enlisted - won't be able to re-enlist...essentially, he or she is fired.

I see no reason why this wouldn't work well in the civilian world...because after I got out and saw the favoritism games that bosses played (more often to my own benefit and not so much to the other workers, mind you), I knew this wasn't the way to get the best out of the people.

 

[Your Star]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

It's much better to share your salary and it know your colleague's salaries.

 

[ecofarm]

I doubt that this is an issue. if it were, my young friend would've mentioned it. In fact, her salary is higher than others with her job title even though she has worked for this corporation for only six weeks because she was asked her salary requirements during the interview and was given it based on her ten years of experience in this business.

Good. This gives the company the opportunity to show they pay women fairly.

 

[Chomsky]

It's much better to share your salary and it know your colleague's salaries.

Hey, that was pretty good!

 

[Excon]

It's much better to share your salary and it know your colleague's salaries.

What a stupid video.

Not all people are of the same caliber even if filling the same position.

 

[ecofarm]

Not all people are of the same caliber even if filing the same position.

Size matters?


I'll go ahead and apologize for that one in advance.

 

[Hawkeye10]

This and doing away with compensation negotiation are two currently popular ideas with-in liberalism to they think drive up wages of women. There is also this:

In an effort to narrow wage discrimination and a persistent gender pay gap, President Barack Obama unveiled new rules on Friday that would require U.S. companies with more than 100 employees to provide summary pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity.

This mandate, according to the White House, "will help focus public enforcement of our equal pay laws and provide better insight into discriminatory pay practices across industries and occupations."

With Wages Still Unequal, Obama Issues Mandate to Combat Pay Gap | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

 

[nota bene]

To return to the topic, is putting employee salaries out there becoming a common practice, or is this just another example of how poorly this company is managed?

 

[Cephus]

No one resents seniority pay. Let's see what women are paid compared to men.

They are paid exactly what they earn.

 

[beerftw]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

This is not the standard, infact the standard is to simply list salary ranges, as this creates issues where entry level people become irate over higher level people who make more than them, and fell they should make the same.

The simple solution was to keep private matters silent, if someone says what they make fine, if they do not personally tell you, it is none of your business.

 

[MaggieD]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

I can understand if it's within gvmt. In private enterprise? Difficult to understand why a company would disclose salary information. Absolutely no good can come of it.

 

[beerftw]

It's much better to share your salary and it know your colleague's salaries.

I love watching adam ruins everything, but in this case I do not think he has a valid point, most retaliation would be among other co-workers.

Imagine if you made 50k a year, and the women near you did the same job but made 30k a year. Lets say you made the extra 20k because you experience outside your job listing making you a valuable fill in if others quit or were sick. What would likely happen is if your salary and everyone elses were listed, human nature dictates that they would not turn against the boss, instead they would rather accuse you of sleeping with the boss, and aim to get you fired.

For a business whos goal is to make money, worker disruption hurts more than anything else, crippling productivity.

 

[nota bene]

This is not the standard, infact the standard is to simply list salary ranges, as this creates issues where entry level people become irate over higher level people who make more than them, and fell they should make the same.

The simple solution was to keep private matters silent, if someone says what they make fine, if they do not personally tell you, it is none of your business.

Thanks for yours and Maggie's responses. I really needed this reality-check. I was just dumfounded when I learned this, and I think now I'll be able to affirm that no, this isn't standard business practice--it's weird.

 

[radcen]

I can understand if it's within gvmt. In private enterprise? Difficult to understand why a company would disclose salary information. Absolutely no good can come of it.

I partially agree. For public employees, ALL salaries should be public knowledge.

For private employees I indeed can see some benefit. It can cause resentment and jealousy, yes, but it can also ease fears and suspicions that someone is getting paid more for doing less. At this point it is up to the employer to make sure everything is kosher, and be able to stand up and justify any differences.

Problem is, even if a difference is justified, i.e. length of service or actual work accomplished, you know there's still going to be some resentment and complaining... "That person has the same position as me and gets paid more. That's not fair!" Problem is, "that person" also mentors other employees where you don't and is the "go to guru" for the department, and is thus actually more valuable to the company than you are, or something similar.

 

[radcen]

Thanks for yours and Maggie's responses. I really needed this reality-check. I was just dumfounded when I learned this, and I think now I'll be able to affirm that no, this isn't standard business practice--it's weird.

I think it's going to become more common because of the alleged disparity in salaries. Companies are going to say, "Look, we pay the same. Get off our back."

 

[joG]

A friend told me Friday that an e-mail had gone out on the corporate ListServ that listed the salaries of all employees from managers on up. Not salary ranges, actual salaries alongside their names. Has this become standard, and I just don't know about it? What possible purpose could this serve but creating dissension?

I'm just dumfounded. Has this become a common practice?

I have worked in very different companies in this respect. In an American investment bank the pay was used as an incentive and anyone could see it. In a German commercial bank HR forbade me doing the same thing for treasury, because the information was confidential. My impression is that Anglo-Saxons and Northern countries are more liable to transparency than Germanic and French ones.

 

[nota bene]

I think it's going to become more common because of the alleged disparity in salaries. Companies are going to say, "Look, we pay the same. Get off our back."

I don't object to salary ranges being made available, but in the case that forms the basis for my OP, I can't see the point other than to create unnecessary dissension.

 

[gdgyva]

Transparency regarding favoritism and gender-based glass ceilings. Those making the big bucks better earn it or they deserve to be resented.

and when you find out the manager thinks less of you than the other employees, how do you think you are going to feel?

salaries have always been kept secret because animosity kills production

i have employees who think they are best paid in a certain department....and are middle of the pack

managing your employees, their expectations, their pay, and the payroll of a company is one of the most important functions of management

some do it well.....others not so much