Salary Transparency

There are those times when a single sentence can trigger a vigorous chain of thought in my mind. Such was the case moments ago when I read an article on LinkedIn News posing the question of salary transparency. The article included a survey of “Should you know how much your colleagues make?” I was amazed that, at the time I did the survey, the number of people who responded “Yes, it helps keep things fair”, was 61%. The answer of “No, that it should be private”, was at 29%. I answered a resounding “No”, but not wholly because it is private or secret.  

I do not compete with other employees or managers. I compete with myself as I constantly look for ways to better myself as a human being and as a professional. That can include admiring the way others do their job and finding a way to fit that “tool” that they use, into my own set of tools. I don’t care about the salaries of others and instead focus on continually living up to my own salary. 

If the salary of a coworker becomes known, the first thing that goes through my mind is whether or not they are worth that amount of compensation. It is highly likely that I have worked with that person and my forever observing eyes and ears will have allowed me to know more about that employee’s work tendencies. I can also say that if I feel that the employee is not worth that amount, it is my image of the supervisor, and perhaps that of the company, that is impacted more than anything. I would see them as a supervisor that is not making a good decision both in the resource and in the amount of money they are spending on that resource. If the employee is worth the amount, then good for them. They deserve it and I am glad to have been able to work with them. 

I know that everyone's time will come. They may have to leave a few companies and be in a completely different profession when the time does come, but it will come. I also know that if they leave a company after finding out what a coworker is earning, it may not be because they have an issue with the pay difference itself. Instead, it could be due to that lost level of confidence and trust that they had in the supervisor. This can be incredibly disappointing for the employee when it is a supervisor whose decision-making skills were well respected and possibly even admired.

So many people feel that they need to be like someone else. They base their life and attempts at success in life, on examples they see on social media posts, “reality” tv shows, many of which are not even real, and on other employees in their job. By doing so, they put themselves into positions where they must compete with a larger group of people for the same things because everyone is wanting the same things. I find it interesting that many people broadcast battle cries for diversity while at the same time wanting to be like everyone else or wanting the same things that everyone else is wanting. That is not the definition of that word. We ourselves should strive to be diverse within our own minds and shed ourselves of singular focuses that keep us from being who we can be.  

We are all different. We are different in a good way. We all have specific things that we do better than others. Things that no one can compete with us on, making salary an irrelevant means of comparison. Keep the salary information to yourself, as it is none of anyone else’s business and because we should be more focused on ourselves and not about everybody else.  

I do not look for someone to “be fair” and make it so that I can be like everyone else. I don't want to do what everyone else is doing or have what everyone else has. I have not been treated equally throughout my career and I don’t want to be treated equally because I am not equal. If a supervisor or company is not capable of seeing that in me, I will not be there long. It will be their loss for being shallow.  I will go to where my specific capabilities are noticed, recognized, expanded, put to productive use, and appropriately compensated. I recommend the same to everyone. 

Be more than just an equal. Be different. Be yourself.