Just make sure you're talking to the right person, and not someone who's going to throw you under a bus...My husband started working at a cabinet/counter shop, and had only been working there for a few months when his boss decided to give him a substantial raise. One day, he and another worker, who had been working there for years, were talking about salaries. The other worker was pretty upset that my husband was making more than him in such a short time. My husband told him "It wouldn't hurt to ask boss man for a raise. You work well and have worked here for a while..." Blah blah blah.. The guy went to their boss and said, "Yeah, B said I should ask you for a raise." The boss denied him, then pulled my husband in and was like "Wtf?!" Then proceeded to explain why he never gave the other guy a raise. It kinda turned into a big mess x_x So yeah, maybe don't mention actually talking about salaries, and definitely don't mention who you talked with
depends on workload, can have the same job description, but employee A, may do more than employee B, it would be unfair to give them the same salary. I earn twice as much as my female colleague for the same job title, but i do a lot more work than all my coworkers combined.
Was a real shock to me as an 18 year old when I asked my coworkers how much they make and they all got mad at me. I couldn't understand it then because I was naive but yeah, people are sheep.
Not so much. It certainly has benefits for the employer. But... not discussing your salary is a personal choice and it may benefit you as well. There are many reasons one might choose to not discuss their salary. What we make often changes people’s perceptions of us. For example- a friend got a job when we were young making 4x what most of our friends did. Many in the group started to think of them as the “rich friend.” They assumes that friend would pay for lunches or cover, out large expenses like group trips or activities requiring a reservation on their card and be reimbursed later, and many times if this friend had any sort of money trouble.... many friends weren’t sympathetic. “Oh- THEY have money trouble? Try making what I make and then talk to me...”
But there’s also the loans and such. Family, friends, etc. May start to come to you with their hand out. Assuming that with your salary- you can help them, and if you don’t- they often won’t be understanding. “You’d just have to give up this and you could afford to help me but you won’t!” As opposed to a friend who doesn’t make much and can just say: “sorry. I don’t have it.” And people tend to accept that when they don’t think you are “richer than them.”
And of course a there are little things. Not filling the tank on your car when borrowing it or other things where people may say: “it’s fine. They can afford it. I can’t.”
On the opposite end- asides any shame one might feel if they feel bad about what they make- there’s the fact that people may treat you differently as well. And being treated like a charity case can really bother some folks. I don’t like it personally. Many folks like me who grew up poor are used to patronizing from the better off. You fly somewhere for a family wedding or whatever and hear “oh that must be so exciting for you, you get to ride a plane...” or you take a vacation and people say things like “good for you- going to Florida. That’s a big deal. It’s very far...” or they give you well
Meaning but insulting tips as though you’ve never seen outside your door.
Friends and family may become your “financial advisors.” Try and tell you how to spend your money, gossip about your spending or talk about how you can improve your finances or cut back. They may change plans when you’re going “oh- we can’t go there. It’s too expensive for Suzy...” or not invite you at all “let’s not invite jimmy. I always feel bad...” and so on.
Even people who don’t make much more than you, or who are lucky- they didn’t get a special degree or invest on some strategy or anything like that- they just were at the right place at the right time or knew the right folks... THEY often try to tell you what you should do to make more- but suddenly having more money makes them an expert on success even though they happened to just do some random thing or have an uncle that got them a good job etc.
It can hurt your career too. There are “clubs” when it comes to salary. It’s hard to break through these clubs on merit and work. Degrees and certificates and such usually are needed- or knowing the right people. But once you are in, its relatively easy to stay in. If you make $20k- unless you’ve gone through a major transformation like a new degree-
Most people aren’t going to look at a worker that another company says is worth $20k and give you $40k. Some exceptions exist.
But you aren’t likely to go from McDonald’s cashier to Target Regional Manager without something in between to bridge that gap like promotions or schooling etc- even if you as you exist right now are qualified and capable. You’ve labeled yourself as a $20,000 employee- and the secret is, outside desperation like the economic crash- a $120k worker doesn’t take a $20k job for 3 years. It’s like advertising you aren’t worth their time to look at, or that they can screw you and pay you less than they’d pay someone else to do the job because if you make $20 and the new job pays $60 normally- you’d take $40.
And this happens with friends too. If your friends think you do “low rent” work- they aren’t going to stick out a neck to get you something they think is too much for you. No one I know knows what I do. It’s been that way most of my life. They might know where I work or my title. They may understand I do something with technical things or business things or science things or that I have meetings or blah. But they don’t actually know what I do. And often- friends try to offer me jobs that are 1/2 or less what I make because they think those are promotions for me.
Their perception of what I make makes them believe that jobs like that are what I am able to do. If a job like mine or above mine came up- they wouldn’t realize that I could do it. That’s fine. I just tell people to let me know if they see any jobs for “XYZ” title if they come up. Simple.
But knowing what friends make can cause resentment too. Many folks don’t care. Many folks are cool and it doesn’t cause problems. But... you don’t know until you open that box wether it’s going to cause issues. Some of us just don’t want to find out. Some of us just don’t feel other people need to know our finances- because knowing what you make and knowing what you do with that or what other income you have or how you manage your money are more complex- and people don’t know those things. They see your salary and they base assumptions and emotions off that. They often judge- “I know what they make and they could afford better than this..” “they make so much but are always broke. What do they do with their money..?” Blah blah.
If you want to share your salary- do so. Maybe 3,4 people know what I make. Close friends each one. A few more know a vague range of “about this much...” or “more than this but less than this...” But I don’t want to share that with everyone. I don’t think we should pressure people to keep
Silent on salary but I also think it is wrong to try and pressure people to think it’s the “right thing to do” to share their salary.
Meaning but insulting tips as though you’ve never seen outside your door.
Most people aren’t going to look at a worker that another company says is worth $20k and give you $40k. Some exceptions exist.
Silent on salary but I also think it is wrong to try and pressure people to think it’s the “right thing to do” to share their salary.