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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to want to see more openess about about wages and salaries

65 replies

GabbyLoggon · 30/09/2010 10:58

I heard a programme on salaries on BBC Radio 4.

It became clear it was a total taboo subject.
Everyone asked was running scared of the subject.

It must be because there is so much iequality over pay for similar work.

I was talking to a broadcaster who said there were people doing similar work getting six times more dosh than others on the same programme

HENCE THE WALL OF SILENCE

OP posts:

Reality · 30/09/2010 10:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DuelingFanjo · 30/09/2010 11:03

There's some kind of review of wages going on where I work, but it's more to do with why some people in my particular workplace get paid so much (the 'talent'); I'd like to see them do a review of why women in this particular industry are still getting paid less than the men!

Chil1234 · 30/09/2010 11:11

It's not unreasonable to expect more openness but it is a cultural taboo, not a a 'wall of silence'. What we earn is one of those subjects that we tend to keep close because it's private, not because we're 'running scared'. People these days will happily discuss their sexual orientation, operation scars and toilet habits but salary is still not something discussed in polite company

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/09/2010 11:15

I am happy with the way it is.

It is up to you to negotiate the best salary you can (private sector obv).

Reality · 30/09/2010 11:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

GabbyLoggon · 30/09/2010 11:20

I now do charity work and never earned more than a postman

Chile...within firms workers were once asked to keep quiet over 5 bob rises.

Not just culture. Let me tell you a story.

The workers on a TV programme so hated the pretty presenters unfair high salary that some of the men exposed themselves in front of her.

And every man reading this would probably have liked to have bedded her. (toot sweet.)

OP posts:

tyler80 · 30/09/2010 11:21

I earn £20k, my partner earns £16k. I don't really understand the secrecy. I know how much my family and close friends earn.

I'm all for more openness, unlike getorfmoiland I think people should be rewarded on their ability and the quality of their work rather than their negotiating skills.

I'd extend that to include that people shouldn't be rewarded on seniority alone.

bubbleOseven · 30/09/2010 11:25

It is up to you to negotiate the best salary you can

See I disagree with the above comment. Just coz I'm no good at negotiating doesn't mean I should be paid less than my colleague sitting opposite me when we both do the same job.

Anyway, not being open about salaries is a way of keeping womens salaries low.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/09/2010 11:25

Yes, agree with you should be rewarded for the quality of your work.

But I see so many times that people do an excellent job, and think that the company will give them a payrise out of the goodness of their hearts. So, in an annual development review meeting, go in, ask meekly (if at all) please can I have a payrise, are told no, go ok then and then that's it for another year.

Whereas someone a bit more bullish can go in, document all their achievements over the last year, go I did this, this and this, I want £x amount more or I am leaving, and they will be more successful in negotiating a wage increase.

missnevermind · 30/09/2010 11:26

I have worked for firms where it is a sackable offence to discuss your salary with another employee.
And this was just bog standard office wages.

bubbleOseven · 30/09/2010 11:26

I temp, by the way, and get £6.50 an hour. If another temp comes into the office where I'm working I ask them how much they are getting. It simply isn't fair for two people to do the same job and for one of them to get more money than the other.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/09/2010 11:26

Well I look at it that why should my salary be kept at the same (lower) level as the person opposite me, just because she cannot adequately neogotiate a higher salary

mayorquimby · 30/09/2010 11:27

Fuck that. I'll tell someone when they can justify to me why its any of their business.

bubbleOseven · 30/09/2010 11:29

"I have worked for firms where it is a sackable offence to discuss your salary with another employee.
And this was just bog standard office wages"

I suspect this was because the men were afraid that the women might find out how much less they were being paid.

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 30/09/2010 11:29

I think it is a nightmare,

Dh has worked for his firm since he left university, he has been given an incremental pay rise each year and when promoted given a bit extra.

However the market has moved faster and people he has recruited into positions more junior to him are paid more because that is what it takes to get them.

Only this year have the HR department agreed with him that he should be paid as much as anyone in the team that he leads and he is now paid a token gesture more.

This seems to be one of the problems about staying in a job for a long period of time rather than jumping round.

It would cause great problems in DH's firm if all salaries were published.

CaptainNancy · 30/09/2010 11:30

Don't understand your 'story'.
The presenter was paid more than the other workers on the programme? Isn't that the norm, regardless of gender?

Of course every man reading this wanted to 'bed' her- men can only think with their genitals

LadyBiscuit · 30/09/2010 11:31

Although sometimes that can backfire GOML - I haven't had a payrise in two years (despite getting the highest grade in my appraisals) because I apparently negotiated too high a salary when I started :o

bubbleOseven · 30/09/2010 11:32

Mayorquimby, it's none of my business how much you earn, of course.

However, If I worked at the same company as you I would consider it my business. Why should I be paid less than you just because your negotiating skills are superior. My embroidery skills are awsome - perhaps I should receive a salary premium for that.

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/09/2010 11:35

LadyB

I agree that companies need their hands to be forced sometimes. My last company did not agree to a payrise as there was not enough money in the dept budget, so I looked around for another job. When I handed in my notice suddenly they found the money in the budget to exceed the offer which i had been made by the other company.

It is a problem I think if you stay in a job for a long time, at my work there are some managers who earn less than the people who report to them.

mayorquimby · 30/09/2010 11:41

"However, If I worked at the same company as you I would consider it my business. Why should I be paid less than you just because your negotiating skills are superior. My embroidery skills are awsome"

Because negotiating skills are an intregal part of the employment relationship. I should get paid more for precisely that reason. Unless we're discussing a very specific employment your embroidery skills are not relevant.
I'm retraining for a prfession which requires me to be self-employed but when I was an employee of a firm it was absolutely none of my colleagues bussiness what I was earning just as it was none of mine as to what they earned.
I established what salary I was or was not willing to do the job for and that is between me and my employer, it has no relevance as to what someone else in the company is willing to do similar work for or how they value their worth to the company.

ShirleyKnot · 30/09/2010 11:43

HOORAY!

Gabby Loggon is back. Oh I love this poster, I love love love GL.

TOOT SWEET!

lucky1979 · 30/09/2010 11:43

So men weren't happy that a woman was getting more money than them so they sexually harrassed her?

Lovely. I'm sure she's all for salaries being out in the open.

DuelingFanjo · 30/09/2010 15:45

"The workers on a TV programme so hated the pretty presenters unfair high salary that some of the men exposed themselves in front of her."

blimey, I wonder how much she got in compensation from her employer?

ForgottenTomato · 30/09/2010 15:57

erm, I couldn't actually tell you off the top of my head what my salary is. I could give you an approximate figure, but I don't know exactly how much it is and it usually takes me a few months to notice if I get a pay rise, etc. My salary (combined with DH's) is enough to cover the bills/outgoings with a bit left over each month so I haven't had to check in a long time.

When I started my job, I discovered that they were going to pay me £6,000 more than I thought they were going to. This wasn't down to my brilliant negotiating skills (obviously); it seems that my employer is just very good about paying decent salaries. DH had a temp job with the same employer in the past, and they put him right on the top of the advertised pay scale, even though he was newly qualified and didn't even try to negotiate at all. His current employer, on the other hand, are stingy buggers and he now realises that he should have negotiated a bit more before accepting the job.

queribus · 30/09/2010 16:11

The Equality Act (should the government choose to implement all of it) will make 'secrecy clauses' illegal - you won't be able to be fired for discussing your salary with your colleagues. Obviously you won't have to reveal your salary.

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