How to Eradicate a Pay Secrecy Culture
Pay Secrecy is such a prevalent part of our culture. We are taught that it’s rude to ask How Much Do You Make? (but I talk about why you should be asking it in this article). Companies often try to shut down employee conversations about pay by creating a culture where it is rude to talk about it or by even going so far as telling employees not to discuss it.
Last year Apple shut down a company Slack channel where employees were discussing pay by claiming the channel violated company policy by not advancing the work (despite having channels about dogs, gaming, foosball, and dad jokes). But don’t worry, Apple employees went on to speak about their pay here.
The alarming reality is that Apple is not the first nor will it be the last organization attempting to silence workers and keep their pay a secret.
But on the flip side we are also seeing companies like Buffer, that are rejecting the culture of pay secrecy and practicing 100% pay transparency. As various states such as Colorado, Connecticut, California, and New York introduce laws governing pay transparency on job postings and more, we see the world moving towards embracing a new culture of pay transparency and equity.
You’re probably thinking, if my organization is skirting the rules or not in a location with such progressive laws, how do I push the pay transparency agenda at my organization?
Let me share 3 ways to eradicate pay secrecy from your company culture:
1. Talk to your peers about your pay
Breaking the taboo rooted in inequity and sharing your pay with your peers is a great way to see if you are paid equitably within your organization. And although you can’t know all the factors that go into the company’s pay decisions by discussing it with peers alone, this is a great first step that can shed light on where you are in your company’s pay structure.
If you are discouraged by your peers from discussing their pay, let them know that greater pay transparency leads to greater pay equity. If a manager or leadership tells you not to talk about your pay, let them know that it is illegal under the NLRA to discourage employees from speaking about working conditions, including pay.
2. Talk to your boss about your pay and your path to more pay
A great boss leads the conversation about your career growth and advancement and pushes you to learn and try new things. But even if your boss isn’t leading those conversations, you can bring them up in a regular one on one (Learn how to make your one-on-one meetings your most important ones here) or simply by asking for a meeting to talk about career growth.
Before your meeting, have an idea of your goals for your career and where you hope to be in the next year. Have a specific salary range in mind for your growth. You can provide examples of how you hope to get there, and ask your boss what you can do to obtain your goals.
3. Ask leadership for more pay transparency
There are many stages of pay transparency. From letting you know what you are paid to letting everyone know what you are paid and many places in between. If the how and why of your pay structure is kept a secret or only available at the highest levels, ask for more.
You can do this by reaching out directly to leadership through an email or meeting, but if leadership is really tight-lipped about pay, putting your thoughts in an anonymous company survey or suggestion box may be the best way to go about this.
You can include that greater transparency benefits the company by increasing productivity and increasing applicants for open jobs.
Increasing your understanding and language around compensation can help you to speak about it within your organization. Our digital course, Cultivating Equitable Compensation, can provide knowledge about laws, best practices, and strategies related to pay structures.
Eliminating pay secrecy in your organization will benefit you and those around you. While you can’t expect change to happen overnight, taking the first step will get you that much closer to achieving pay transparency at your company.
