[Closed] If A Colleague Asks What You're Paid, Would You Tell Them?

I hadn't appreciated at the time how varying the pay levels were in the UK, and consequently how grossly overpaid I was.

@MSP
I meant why does a guy senior to me who's definitely being paid more than I am care what I'm earning?

He's looking to see who the most likely person to sack is.

Again NHS so i tell them what band and pay point I'm on. Band 5 point 19. But i do alot of weekend lates and lates so get slightly more 🙂

Surely we are just one of the least equal WESTERN societies?

ok, fair point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

I'm surprised at how equal the US comes out in that. Higher than Sweden for instance.

I suspect most people wouldn't reveal on here what they're paid.

I'm surprised at how equal the US comes out in that. Higher than Sweden for instance.

Same here, but there are so many different ways of measuring it.

I'd feel uncomfortable telling colleagues and friends but I would - knowledge is power, power is money and money is shiny bikes.

It's going to be especially useful if/when I come back to the UK for a bit and need to whore myself out (apparently being a kept man isn't an option any more) amongst the companies I used to hear from.

p.s. being paid in NZ$ is great. The number are bigger!

being paid in NZ$ is great. The number are bigger!

But ultimately not worth anything anywhere else 😉

I'm surprised at how equal the US comes out in that. Higher than Sweden for instance.

Not sure we are reading the same thing - which measurement brings out the USA above Sweden? I could only find ones where Sweden was more equal than the USA.

i and two of my colleagues were threatened with written warnings for discussing salaries..every little helps to keep staff happy

Did seem quite a 'fair' scheme.....

I'm surprised at how equal the US comes out in that. Higher than Sweden for instance.

This is virtually unenforceable, particularly following the equality act 2010 - if someone is trying to establish if there is a case for an equal pay claim, then they are allowed to ask and people are able to tell them, no matter what the contract says.

To the OP as to why a senior person wants to know? They think your either very underpaid or very overpaid 🙂 They are also very overpaid if they didn't just think of calling HR.

Worked on bands when I was last in the UK, simple and effective but left no way to reward someone who was doing well.

Prior to that had contractor hourly rates, turns out after revealing mine I was being paid more than my boss, they just paid people what they could negotiate on entry and never looked at it again!

I dont get why people are so uptight about it.

My job has a publicly available pay scale. I'm on P3, which is £36,642 gross. That's about £2000 net per month.

Simply say for what I do.. Clearly not enough !

I cant understand why people are so guarded about it. Its very easy to guess the rough value of what some one is paid.

Would I tell? Depends on why they say they're asking.

I remember the leader of a training course I was on asking whether people at our place knew what each other were paid. As a former blue chip HR exec he expressed surprise that we did not. He considered it bad form not to know as it stopped people asking 'why [i]are[/i] they paid more than me?'. And that can apparently affect your desire to learn and improve. He was surprised when we expressed our belief that revealing your pay might be a disciplinary matter.

In England there seem to be a number of factors that affect how readily folks share the value of their pay: occupation, employer, class, origin, location...

Its very easy to guess the rough value of what some one is paid.

It might be in some places. Where I am, our grades have only a minimum value for base pay, with no upper limit. Additional benefits (pension contributions, car allowance, etc) vary according to a number of factors. The factors that affect base salary and benefits are sometimes not obvious.

My salary will be £10k this year. But thats because I'm a contractor 😉

I just look at the latest daily mail figures, double it, then tell my butler to Brag about the incomprehensible number to the gentry at the local club.

Or so the press would have you believe...

DrP

I suspect most people wouldn't reveal on here what they're paid.

£32.5k, still not sure how I got to this position (considering I work in a "creative" role) but I'm really not complaining, just consider myself very lucky!

Do you have any more information on this statement?

Section 77 of the act literally says these clauses are "unenforceable if…"

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/77

Always. People seem to assume I'm paid a lot more than I am.

@samuri

He's looking to see who the most likely person to sack is.

I've already handed my notice in!

@mikewsmith

To the OP as to why a senior person wants to know? They think your either very underpaid or very overpaid They are also very overpaid if they didn't just think of calling HR.

I know I'm underpaid, that's part of why I'm leaving! I started here as a very junior person (lowest of the low) and worked my way up. He wanted to know what I'm currently paid, and where I'm leaving to is paying me.

We work in an industry where you can see what market rate is by simply going on a job site. Industry standard qualifications mean you can quite easily assess your worth. He knows what qualifications I've got because he mentored me for a while.

No I will never tell or ask. Opens up a can of worms. If you are contractors its different as you could be gone by the end of the week anyway.

When people find out, they might say nothing much to you but believe me they are saying to others 'cant believe hes on more than me'. Sometimes they go straight upto their boss. A big fuss is kicked up and they get an increase. You wont know this unless you are called in to explain why you told them (often they'll let it slide but they'll mark your card).

Most people seem to assume that they are paid more than their colleagues, but have no information to base that assumption on.

Must have been to the Gove school of statistical analysis.

anyone asks at my place - i just give them my basic - that shuts them up enough..usually followed with you do that - for that only that much......

dont tell them about the bonus' (im not a city banker ;))

I was surprised to learn in my last job I was on £2,000 pa more than my senior and was offered another £2,000pa not to leave. I still can't work that out. Currently being interviewed for a few more 'career' jobs while in the meantime I'm stacking shelves for minimum wage 🙂

I dont get why people are so uptight about it.

Because it can and would cause a lot of resentment.

In the private sector (SME rather than large corps) there are often huge disparities in pay rates as peoples all get to a role / level via different routes, so you can do the same job as someone else yet be on 50% to 150% of their salary.

I've had to deal with this no end of times, but the way pay reviews work, with a fixed % pay uplift pool for a given group, it's very hard to make a big change to one person without using up all the pot, so it can takes years to slowly iron out pay anomalies.

anyone asks at my place - i just give them my basic - that shuts them up enough..usually followed with you do that - for that only that much......

dont tell them about the bonus' (im not a city banker ;))

Your basic in oil is way more than my top line.

As for a bonus what is that?

so it can takes years to slowly iron out pay anomalies.

By "slowly", do you mean "never"? I have seen guys with aptitude improve at a mercurial rate. Especially in technical disciplines. Their pay never catches up unless they move jobs.

By "slowly", do you mean "never"?

Not always but it might take 5 years or more, the higher the pay the harder it is to adjust. Giving a graduate starter a 25% or 50% pay rise is relatively cheap. When you have senior engineers on over 6 figures, it gets a bit more tricky.....

bruneep - you a crew manager or a watch manager ?

youll be surprised how close we are on basics if either is correct.

Footflaps, that's all benefits to the employer to keeping pay secret, what's in it for the employees?

I know that I'm paid quite a few thousand less than collegues who do the same job as me. I can hardly walk in and demand that I'm paid the same, can I?

If I had a full-time job on my daily rate I'd be a very happy man, but as it is the work is sporadic and insecure (although I realise many full-timers are also in a similar position these days).
Oh and if you want to get a rough idea of what someone earns, just start moaning about how much tax you are paying, if they share the anger then it's an indication they are in the 40% band.

Not always but it might take 5 years or more, the higher the pay the harder it is to adjust. Giving a graduate starter a 25% or 50% pay rise is relatively cheap. When you have senior engineers on over 6 figures, it gets a bit more tricky.....

The last place I worked (small public sector organisation), most pay rises were absolute amounts - £1k cost of living, £10k promotion etc.

Now (FTSE 100 company) it's all proportional - x% bonus, 10% for new job etc, so if you come in on a lower base you'll never catch up to someone who potentially has exactly the same career.

if you come in on a lower base you'll never catch up to someone who potentially has exactly the same career

Amen to that.

I'd love nothing more than to stay with the company I'm currently on. However, I'm of the opinion that in a good company you'd not have to threaten to leave, or wait for some arbitrary date to increase your pay. If wishes were unicorns right?

I still wonder what my senior is going to do with the knowledge though. I'll see him again soon and I'm going to ask him what he gets paid. I've got a good idea, but I just want to see how he will respond to the question.

My bosses-bosses-boss is on to earn £5.6m this year apparently.

I'd have a punt at his job for that!

Footflaps, that's all benefits to the employer to keeping pay secret, what's in it for the employees?

Ignorance is bliss.

If you found out that the chap next to you, doing the same job earned 50% more than you, would it make you happy? No.

Happy? No. Move to somewhere that provides adequate remuneration? Yes.

I do think a lot of gender inequality on pay isn't helped by the British attitude to disclosing what they get.

If someone does the same work and produces the same value to the company as me they should be paid the same amount, it shouldn't really be decided by my ability to negotiate a better deal with an employer, the fact my boss likes me more or my gender.

I'd love nothing more than to stay with the company I'm currently on. However, I'm of the opinion that in a good company you'd not have to threaten to leave, or wait for some arbitrary date to increase your pay. If wishes were unicorns right?

Likewise. Am looking at a career change within the business I work, but the challenge will be that pay doesn't move. At the same time, I've just been approached about 3 jobs in what I already do that will pay me up to 50% (basic) more than I'm on now.

I know they want to keep me here, so I need to work out a way to have my cake and eat it. Because I'm worth it.

Happy? No. Move to somewhere that provides adequate remuneration? Yes.

Define adequate...

Eg Here is a real scenario. We were recruiting into a start up in 2000/2001 around the time of the big tech crash in the US (Enron, Worldcom etc). Prior to the crash we had to buy people out of their current jobs ie offer pay rises and perks to get them to join us. Then suddenly loads of UK companies (funded by US parents) were folding in Cambridge and laying off staff. So the salary we needed to pay to get someone to join had just dropped. The upshot is you ended up with a company where what you were paid had a lot to do with whether you joined pre or post crash. Everyone joined of their free will and was happy to accept their package.