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SidTheITGuy
1y

Hot Take:

It's our own double standard because of which companies have to enforce a "Don't discuss your salary" clause in the employee handbook.

For example let's say you are a 4 years experienced dev making $50K annually. You hear about a new joiner who has 2 years experience drawing $65K from the company. You will be outraged knowing that, wouldn't you?

The double standard kicks in when the coin is flipped. Now let's say you are 2 years experienced dev making $60K annually. You hear about a new joiner who has 6 years experience drawing a $45K annual salary.

You're not gonna fight with your employer for them to get more salary, are you? If anything, you will be happy to hear that.

When everyone knows how much everyone else is making, it fills them with resentment towards each other. This is why companies make a rule for their employees to never reveal their salaries, because of our own double standard.

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  • 6
    1y
    nah. maybe i'm just not capitalist enough, but my metric is "do i feel, for myself, that this is enough money for the amount and quality of work i provide?"

    i don't give a carp about what others earn.

    except for middle managers. because, even if they work for free, they get paid too much.
  • 1
    1y
    apparently. it was standard practice to post everyone's salary on a wall back in my moms early working days
  • 1
    1y
    @tosensei I feel similar comrade.

    We aren't full Ferengi. Greed is just a controlable part of ourself. What matters is to live a happy life as long as it lasts. For that i need money - but not obscene amounts of it. And rather than trying to get rich fast and ruining my body and psyche in the process, i just live a modest happy life without giving in to consumerism and owning status gadgets.
  • 0
    1y
    I understand the sentiment. But how could you isolate yourselves from it when you can tell you doing more work to compensate for someone who is being paid more than you are (I assume it happens)
  • 2
    1y
    Nah, if I saw that someone in a similar position is earning a lot more, it would just demoralise me and remind me to look for a better position. Of course that would put pressure on the employer to increase my salary as well. If a newcomer would get a small salary, they'd know it and do the same.
  • 1
    1y
    What would the problem be if everybody got paid the higher salary though?
  • 4
    1y
    Please don't be that naive - the company isn't protecting you from your own double standard at all, it's protecting itself from very fair challenges that would force them to pay more, and fairly, towards underpaid colleagues.

    Besides, there is no double standard. The set standard is bringing everyone's pay up to be in line with each other.

    If I found a colleague of mine was on a significant amount less than me doing the same work, it wouldn't be a double standard at all - I'd encourage them to raise it with their manager and ask for more money, while knowing that the "but no-one makes that around here" line is utter BS.
  • 0
    1y
    @tosensei On the internet its very easy to sound "modest", like what you said. We can't fact check your opinion so you can become as moral as you want.

    But when that happens to you in real life, then u will understand.
  • 0
    1y
    @AlmondSauce and when that employee goes to the manager and negotiates their way into a higher salary then you will end up kicking yourself for it.
  • 0
    1y
    @electrineer Interesting take, so there is a company side to the argument as well.

    Companies don't want to go through this hassle of explaining employees why they deserve the salary they are getting, so ban the entire thing. Easy.
  • 1
    1y
    @SidTheITGuy ban salary. Easy.
  • 2
    1y
    @SidTheITGuy Not at all. It's happened many a time, and I've never kicked myself for it whatsoever.

    It's actually a net *benefit* for me. If I know someone is being paid *more* than me for that position now, then I have more ammo to ask for a payrise myself the next time pay review comes around, or I'll schedule someting sooner if appropriate.
  • 2
    1y
    @SidTheITGuy on the internet, just like offline, everybody can say whatever they like all the time, and you have no idea if it's the truth or not. by definition, you can never truly know.

    you can just decide for yourself if you take my words as truth or not. and i can only asure you that this indeed is my opinion on the matter.

    i'm also working part-time, because i simply don't need the extra money, and i would sorely miss my free friday.

    i prefer the wealth of "more time". which kinda sidesteps the whole salary-comparison itself: a day is worth 24 hours, for everyone. no matter how qualified or how over/underpaid.

    @oktokolo my philosophy in short:

    money is a neccessity. NOT the goal. and IMHO that's all there is to say about the topic.
  • 1
    1y
    This is a much more convoluted explanation than just wanting to exploit low self-esteem and bad bargaining skills, and stands on an assumption about psychology that I don't think is universally true at all.
  • 1
    1y
    A cornerstone of the labour approach is that salary is not personal and certainly not an achievement, because the employee is not in an equal bargaining position. If someone is earning much higher than you are and you need someone to blame, blame the company.
  • 1
    1y
    Personally, I want to know what other people are paid, especially those above me. Not because I'll be upset that they make more or that I'm happy they make less. But because I know where I stand in terms of what they value me at.
    Also, in some cases, at least at my old job. I wanted my coworkers to make more money. That place did not pay enough and didn't value anyone but their inner circle enough I think.
  • 0
    1y
    @ostream why did you have to over-qualify what you said? seems like you do care lol.
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