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

I thought it was bad manners to do so. I’ve got no problems telling people if they ask me, but I’d want to know why (apart from the obvious reasons) someone would want to know apart from idle curiosity.

No. I know what they’re all paid though.

i tell them rounded up to the next tenner, if they’re getting more im on to the agent pronto. if less i basque in my smugness.

nowt worse tho than when you find out some total nugget is on more!

No, and the likely reason for asking is to use it in a pay (re)negotiation, and personally I don’t want anything to do with a colleague’s pay dispute with my company.

It’s normally written into your contract that you are not allowed to discuss your wage with others.

It’s normally written into your contract that you are not allowed to discuss your wage with others.

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.

I’m on a pay scale, so there is a limited number of amounts I could get paid, and I have a job role within that, so people pretty much know within a range what I’m on, and I have no qualms about telling them what point I’m on.

I tell people what pay band I’m on (NHS AfC banding) but not where on the scale I am.

Our pay bands are ridiculous, but you can tell which band everyone is on. So, for example, a lot of people are on between £24k and £100k!

What I don’t get is, why do people who are obviously on more money than you asking what you get paid?

i basque in my smugness.

Whilst they admire your choice of lingerie?

What I don’t get is, why do people who are obviously on more money than you asking what you get paid?

Then you need to ask them why they want to know.

Keeping it all secret is far more in the favor of employers rather than employees. Basic divide and conquer, and it seems to work.

…if less i basque in my smugness.

Working in northern Spain, huh?

We Brits do have an odd attitude to money, and are rather embarrassed by it. I think it’s because it’s so intrinsically tied up with our sense of social status and self-worth.

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

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

I did wonder about that with even the front page poll on household income.

No I don’t. People can get very funny if you earn more than them. I would have thought they’re better off working harder or getting more skills or finding a new job if it bothers them, but being funny about it seems to be the preference 🙂

More seriously, I’m a contractor and people often misunderstand that what appears to be a high day rate doesn’t necessarily translate into a massively higher standard of living e.g. it’s harder to get a mortgage, you don’t get paid holiday etc

But aren’t you better off if you already have a mortgage and a good accountant?

Not a chance, I know what my lot get paid though, I set the rates.

Always been in this situation, me hiring and firing lark.

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

Minimum wage.

Your turn? 😆

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

£33,855

No, it never ends well for any party

The last company was shocked to find we all openly discussed our pay, even though we all earned between £16,000 to £18,000 so we’re not talking massive differences
My current job I get paid less than £1 an hour, and work 4 hours a day, and it’s still better than the previous

Whatever you’re paid double it and watch the apoplexy set in whilst sipping your brew

bokonon – brave fellow

My current job I get paid less than £1 an hour, and work 4 hours a day, and it’s still better than the previous

perhaps we should be talking about income rather than pay?

No, it never ends well for any party

It ends well for the employer who can pay everyone as little as he can get away with, safe in the knowledge that they are too stupid to be open with each other about pay and conditions.

It’s awkward… in my old job, it could be very messy because I spent 2 years being paid more than the people who were training me to do the job they could already do with their eyes closed.

Why would you care if you knew you were better off anyway?

Why would you care if you knew you were better off anyway?

How would you know? because your boss told you he has given you a special deal that no one else has and you should keep it secret? Did he manage to stifle his laughter as he told you?

AT my first job I managed to persuade all my peers to give me all their salaries / pay rise details and plotted them all out on a graph (being an Engineer). Anyway, turns out we were all on exactly the same line – pay was linear function of age. The pay rises all occurred at different times but we were all paid exactly the same for our age. Did seem quite a ‘fair’ scheme…..

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

you’re not wrong there 😉

I don’t think the question has ever been asked TBH. Some people have tried in a round about way but I usually change the subject

Keeping it all secret is far more in the favor of employers rather than employees. Basic divide and conquer, and it seems to work.

Exactly.

Currently, FWIW, as Ltd Co. contractor I bill £450 a day.

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

£22,000

Better than a lot of people, but a lot worse than many it seems!

Can’t say I’ve bothered to look at what I earn for quite a while 😳

i have the unenviable task of hiring and firing.
most of our men dont tell the truth about what they earn, normally adding £10-£20 a day on.
one day a guy said to me that he was unhappy that he was only earning a tenner a day more than this other guy, so i put the other guys money down a tenner and said due to the first bloke complaining, i had assessed his money and realised he was overpaid, he wasnt happy

It does seem to be a British thing when it comes to money.

I’ve been very surprised how open people are over here when it comes to wages and what they/you paid for your house etc.

One thing I will say is that there seems to be a lot wider wage ranges in the UK than in Sweden, which is maybe why people are more open about it.

£0.00

At a consultancy I worked at everyone’s charge out rate was public, and it was pretty simple sums to go from charge rate to salary. No need to ask.

It ends well for the employer who can pay everyone as little as he can get away with, safe in the knowledge that they are too stupid to be open with each other about pay and conditions.

This^^

Funny – we once did a silly “team building” type game that was designed to show us that sharing information led to all the teams doing better, but in real situations, nobody does that.

Yes. But then, it is only a small team in a charity, and our pay is easy to find in the public records we put out.

im on contract with an hourly rate, there are different levels and different disciplines that earn different rates but the other guys at my level get the same. we are lucky to be in an industry where demand for personnel is high so companies outbid each other on the rates to get a workforce in for a project, its never about the companies paying as little as they can get away with, its about them paying more than their competitors. It also means if these lot here really want an individual on board but he’s is demanding more than the current rate, we all get an increase to match! the downside is projects never run for more than about 3yrs give or take, but for me thats long enough. i get bored.

“Pay? I do it for the sense of satisfaction!”