Your Salary - Do you share or keep it private?

• thedynasty1998

  

  Obviously asking someone how much they know is one of those questions that is usually rude to ask someone.
  
  Well anyone that works for the state, you can search their salary and I've been looking at the database and looking up just about everyone I know who is either working for the state or is a teacher. I've shared the site with some people and they said they feel uncomfortable looking at someone's salary without them knowing.
  
  So what say you. Do you openly share your salary? Do you think someone's salary is a private thing that shouldn't be researched?
• LJ

  

  I'll share my salary, I don't care.
  
  As for if it should be public knowledge, it should be for any gov't employee.
• cbus4life

  Government Employee, yes, it should be publically available.
  
  If not, then it should be private, and up to the individual to decide whether they want to share it or not.
• justincredible

  

  My salary for running this website is in the tens of dollars.
• queencitybuckeye

  The salaries of public-sector employees should be public as we collectively pay those salaries. The salaries paid at my business are my business.
• Websurfinbird

  

  What about sharing your salary with co-workers? I feel like some companies, mine included, guilt you into not talking about it, lest you learn someone of the same experience/skill level is making more and might (Gasp!) want a raise.
• se-alum

  

  I work for the gov't, so anyone can find my salary. As far as co-workers go, I could pretty much guess what their salary is, based on position and years of service. Just cross-reference it w/ the GS pay scale. It's easier to look it up though!!
• Heretic

  

  I keep mine on the hush-hush out of pure shame.
• LJ

  

  Websurfinbird wrote: What about sharing your salary with co-workers? I feel like some companies, mine included, guilt you into not talking about it, lest you learn someone of the same experience/skill level is making more and might (Gasp!) want a raise.

  Our contractors have a privacy clause in their contracts that if we hear any word of them discussing what we are paying them they lose the contract immediately.
  
  In the oil business sometimes it's hard to get contractors and sometimes it's easy. You can have 2 crews out working and 1 is making 20% more than the other just because of a shortage of crews when you had to start drilling.
• Websurfinbird

  

  GS pay scale only refers to federal employees. I think?
  
  Ehh moral of the story is I'm broke! Better work on my golddigger strategy ...
• OneBuckeye

  

  justincredible wrote: My salary for running this website is in the tens of dollars.

  
• se-alum

  

  GS pay scale only refers to federal employees. I think?

  Yea, I was referring to my co-workers, my bad!
• Cleveland Buck

  

  Heretic wrote: I keep mine on the hush-hush out of pure shame.

  This.
• jmog

  Most of my family knows how much I make, and not just my wife. My parents, in laws, sister, a few cousins/uncles (not all), just the people I'm close with.
  
  No one at work knows how much I make unless they are my boss or HR.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  I make 1 dolla.
• LJ

  

  I can't get the ohio database to work. Got a link?
• McFly1955

  

  Only my wife and I know really...No need for anyone else to, none of their business.
• Con_Alma

  I share mine with those who are close to me and inquire.
• gut

  Interesting question.
  
  No, I don't share and it's a double-edged sword. It is often very difficult to determine your market worth, and the few not so great sites that accumulate less than perfect data usually charge too much for a private individual to get.
  
  Smart companies don't have wide disparities, but new people always come in at market value and so can often be making as much or more than the guy hired a year or two earlier (quickly levels out with annual and merit increases). If I was underpaid, I'd want to know so I can make a case for a raise or start looking for someone who will pay me what I'm worth. On the other hand, if you're happy with your job and what you make, you might not want to know that the C player next to you makes as much or more than you.
  
  I'm speaking mostly about co-workers and people of your salary grade. I don't share with anyone, really, but have often thought about it with co-workers.
• Glory Days

  

  The salaries of public-sector employees should be public as we collectively pay those salaries. The salaries paid at my business are my business.

  what about your business clients? since people feel they are entitled to know what government workers make, shouldnt a client be entitled to know what his service provider makes? that way he doesnt think he is being overcharged for a service if he knows the service provider is paying their employees too high? just a thought.
• gut

  Websurfinbird wrote: What about sharing your salary with co-workers? I feel like some companies, mine included, guilt you into not talking about it, lest you learn someone of the same experience/skill level is making more and might (Gasp!) want a raise.

  
  Some companies definitely rely (hope) their employees don't share that info. Forget exactly, but I think I've seen research that claimed co-workers should be open about what they're making because you deserve a market wage. It should be noted, however, that you don't want to make your case for a raise just based on the fact "Suzy makes more than me and I'm at least as valuable as her"
  
  Some companies probably also have policies against sharing this information, or at least many believe they do and thus are afraid of sharing that info.
• LJ

  

  Glory Days wrote:

  The salaries of public-sector employees should be public as we collectively pay those salaries. The salaries paid at my business are my business.

  what about your business clients? since people feel they are entitled to know what government workers make, shouldnt a client be entitled to know what his service provider makes? that way he doesnt think he is being overcharged for a service if he knows the service provider is paying their employees too high? just a thought.

  Well see, that is what makes up part of the difference between the public sector and the private sector.
• se-alum

  

  Oh, and my salary won't be raising much this year thanks to d-bag Obama.
• gorocks99

  

  Anyone that asks, I'll tell. NBD.
• GOONx19

  

  Yessir. I make $1.74 million quarterly. And I take that to the bank.