Do Colleagues Discuss Salary?

Although people are more and more willing to share personal information with colleagues and the whole world, there is a topic that always belongs to the taboo category -- salary.

People have always thought that talking about money can make people feel uncomfortable, but it is not a social criterion for making wage topics a private conversation. In 2011, a report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research pointed out that about half of American employees indicated that employers explicitly prohibited or strongly opposed their discussions with colleagues about salary issues.

Even if wages are not violated, experts warn people not to talk about salary standards with colleagues. Carlin rokde, a career coach, says, for example, "if a manager finds out, it will make people feel that you are not satisfied with your job, resulting in a backfired result."

Caroline, a professional expert, is a joint author of the book "How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times": "brave victory over fear: the secret of success in a difficult era" (the Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times). She likened salary to the office appointment. "You can always find justification for discussing salary," she said. "But in most cases, the result will be very bad. So we should be careful. "

Rokend stressed that discussing salary problems usually leads to disappointment and job satisfaction. "If you find a colleague's salary is higher than yours, you will soon feel that your job is very bad, and of course your boss," she said. A study by the, a the National Bureau of Economic Research, released a study in September 2010 and came to the same conclusion. The researchers will provide University of California employees employees with the right to visit the salary information website of university staff at random. (of) Although some employees find that their salary is below average, their job satisfaction is reduced, but their job satisfaction has not been improved correspondingly for those who find salary above average.

Pamela Tigaden, founder of the Soluna society and an expert in corporate behavioral psychology, said that because many companies operate in the so-called prisoner's dilemma mode, employees often compare salaries. "In order to seek promotion and victory, there is no cooperation between colleagues. On the contrary, they have to compete against each other." Teagarden believes that comparing salaries will only exacerbate this situation and weaken the team's ability to work together to achieve their goals. In order to avoid this problem, she suggested that employers should pay attention to other non monetary forms of "external incentives", such as encouraging colleagues to become friends and valuing employees' opinions.

Rokinder also values this non monetary form. "People think that money can bring happiness," says rokendt. "But the opposite is true. Money can't bring happiness, but happy people can make more money. "

Senisa Levin pointed out that employers should also pay attention to the salary level of the industry so as to ensure that employees' salaries are not too low or too high.

In March 2013, a study on gender wage differentities by the women's Policy Research Association pointed out that the average weekly salary of female full-time employees in 2012 was 19.1% lower than that of male employees. Therefore, whether it is advisable to discuss salary with colleagues is a more important issue for women.

Rokendt said, relative to Colleague There are more effective ways to raise salaries than salaries. She and Santa SAR Levin suggest that they can refer to the average level of the industry. Through the websites like Salary.com, Payscale.com and Glassdoor.com, you can understand the local year-on-year salary standards without embarrassing asking colleagues around. In addition, you can also discuss this topic with other people outside your colleagues to find out the relevant information. "If we want to maintain our reputation in the company and understand ourselves," he said. salary Whether it is fair or not, using the Internet is a good choice. In addition, you can consult a human resource specialist and use information interview to understand the current salary level of your position.

Although most expert It is cautioned not to talk about wages among colleagues, but Kristen Xin, a career consultant at Barnard College, points out that "knowledge is power". It also introduces several ways to discuss this topic without offending others. She suggested asking the salary range of a department rather than the specific figure of a person. "It's more comfortable to talk about salary range than to answer your salary."