Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • We Recommend
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Genesis

Is Salary Transparency Good?

December 5, 2008 By Shane Ede Leave a Comment

Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asked us all what we thought of salary transparency.  I don’t know about you, but there’s always something intriguing about my coworkers salaries.  Are they making more than I am?  Am I making more? How much do they take out for retirement?  But alas, that is not for me to know.  We have no salary transparency.  And that’s probably a good thing.

Salary transparency can remove many of the problems that people have by letting them know exactly where they stand.  It can give people a clue as to how well they negotiated their salary and their last raise.  It can lend a hint towards seniority.  And it can expose any bits of favoritism.

One of the best examples of salary transparency would be any jobs where the workers are union-ized.  As part of their contract negotiations, all unions negotiate the pay of their members.  As such, they generally end up with a very structured pay scale.  Also, as such, you can usually know a persons salary within dollars of the actual salary.  There is very little differentiation between the workers.  Only through tenure (and strikes) can you income really rise.

Unions have transparency because it’s in their contracts, and since those are pretty much public to the employees, the salary structure is fairly public.  In any other case, it is my belief that salary transparency is bad.  It may cut down on nosy people, but it could lead to a great deal of salary jealousy.  Even if they all know why Bob is making more than they are.  Despite all the normal arguments against salary transparency, the most compelling is that it isn’t my coworkers business what I make.  If I successfully negotiated a better salary than the guy in the cubicle next to me, or got a better raise, that’s between me and my employer.  If my employer thinks that I’m worth what I make, that’s my business.

Plain and simple, my wage is exactly that.  Mine.  That thought is one of the reasons that I haven’t and have no plans to publish my salary here.  It’s also the reason that I made the decision not to publish any detailed financial details such as a monthly balance sheet or net worth here.

What are your thoughts on it?  Let me and Jim know!

Shane Ede

I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.

You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.

Filed Under: General Finance, ShareMe Tagged With: salary, salary transparency, union, wage, wages

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Improve Your Credit Score

Money Blogs

  • Celebrating Financial Freedom
  • Christian PF
  • Dual Income No Kids
  • Financial Panther
  • Gajizmo.com
  • Lazy Man and Money
  • Make Money Your Way
  • Money Talks News
  • My Personal Finance Journey
  • Personal Profitability
  • PF Blogs
  • Reach Financial Independence
  • So Over Debt
  • The Savvy Scot
  • Yes, I am Cheap

Categories

Disclaimer

Please note that Beating Broke has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. Beating Broke may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.

Visit Our Advertisers

Need to change careers? Consider an Accounting Certificate Program from WTI.