Food for Thought: Open Pay- How Much Do YOU Earn?

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If I had a penny for each time someone asked me how much I earned, I would have been able to go to the nearest Jaguar dealership and buy myself an XF using a ginormous jar of pennies.

I’d put exactly £ 24, 974.99 worth of pennies in and, just as the shop assistant had finished counting it all, I’d say that there was no point in making the purchase as there simply weren’t enough pennies inside and it was better for me to come back when I had the remaining penny.

Now wouldn’t that be fun?

But honestly, how many times have your colleagues asked you how much you earned and vice versa?

I’ve never done it, personally; mostly because I’ve not seen any positive value in such a piece of information.

In my view, a collegial ‘discussion’ on pay can only lead to an unhealthy blend of jealousy, childish questioning and soapy gossip.

Thus, my usual answer to such ‘friendly’ queries is ‘A LOT’. Even though it’s blatantly untrue, it makes people think twice before they ask you a similar question again.

But what if I didn’t HAVE a say in the above? What if my colleagues had the LEGAL right to know what salary I was on?

Would that have increased or decreased employees’ overall chances of successfully negotiating a pay raise?

Well, we might not have to wait too long to find out.

Behold:

‘’Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced legislation last week that would not only require employers to prove that differences in pay among workers are unrelated to gender or any other qualities unrelated to their employment, but keep companies from punishing workers who discuss salary information’’

(See << http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=730edf43-c6da-4ed2-b3e4-a9ab5511acc2 >> ).

The Paycheck Fairness Act has been lobbied as an equal rights issue; proponents have argued that it will only improve employees’ chance of successfully negotiating a higher salary by giving them a solid footing and arming them with some solid ‘facts’.

Several issues must be noted.

To begin with, it must at all times be remembered that, as Uncle Ben said, with great power, comes great responsibility. Knowing what your colleagues’ salaries are means that they, too, know yours is.

The disturbing bit about that, of course, is that some people will not stop at trying to get a pay raise. It might come as a nasty shock to you but there are some viscously malicious individuals out there; ones who will take greater joy in getting you a pay CUT rather than getting themselves a pay raise.

Further to the above, the best person to judge what you are capable of IS your employer (let’s be honest here…) and NOT yourself. I mean, let’s face it, you’re a bit bias when it comes, well…you.

Thus, would it be a great idea to give every single employee a carte blanche to challenge any decisions by the employer to curb or raise someone’s pay?

Probably not.

But, then again, that’s exactly what they said about mobile phones, tablets and peanut- butter chocolate Kit- Kat.