Aug 08 2006
The Case For Open Salaries
Why secret salaries are a baaaaaad idea:
Except for a few heretics it is almost universally accepted that mayhem would ensue in the workplace if people knew what their co-workers, their managers or - gasp - the CEO was making.
Companies must attempt to pay their people as fairly as possible. You might think a company should try to pay people as little as possible, but companies who subscribe to that philosophy must be prepared to steadily lose all their good employees to competitors willing to pay people what they’re worth.
Companies must attempt to pay their people as fairly as possible. You might think a company should try to pay people as little as possible, but companies who subscribe to that philosophy must be prepared to steadily lose all their good employees to competitors willing to pay people what they’re worth.
It’s a noble philosophy that I can’t imagine being accepted by the corporate world, especially when most companies that I’m aware of don’t give a damn about fairness; it’s all about negotiation and money. Hell, an employee would probably be chastised if they made their salary public.
I’d love to work for an ethical company, one that has proven its employees’ values matter more than the bottom-line.
Corporations will NEVER consider employee values in their culture. They answer to stockhoders who are only interested in the bottom line. There are organizations that do put employees first. They are few and far between and I haven’t seen one yet that is NOT privately owned with a forward thinking visionary leader. Companies always say they want to be different but in reality, they don’t want to be THAT different.
In my state - Kansas - all salaries for all state employees - janitors, teachers on up to the governor are known and published. Chaos hasn’t ensued yet but I guess you can’t compare a government entity to a going concern.
I openly discuss my salary with all my friends. How else am I supposed to know how much I’m worth unless we bitch about how much we’re not making?