Fair Pay: If salaries weren't secret, women would get paid better

Salaries are as private as sex.  You don't talk about how much money you make in front of other people--certainly not colleagues.  You receive paychecks or pay slips in a sealed envelope--the brown paper bag of cubicles.

GOING PUBLIC

One of the best ways to promote fair pay, would be to make salaries public--if it's fair, there's no reason to hide. How do we know we are being paid fairly if we don't know what other people earn?  The new administration values transparency in government--why should we not extend that ethic to the private sector? 

SECRECY HURTS

Lilly Ledbetter got an anonymous note that tipped her off. Back in the 40's, my professor grandmother wasn't supposed to know that she made a fraction of her colleagues' salary--yet after finding out, she had no laws to address the imbalance. Her son was furious, and wanted to fight back.  She wouldn't.

UNIONS AND GOVERNMENT

Of course, some workplaces share pay information. The federal government has a system of job rankings that are charted plainly at the Office of Personnel Management. Unions also have basic pay rates, which don't vary wildly.  Non-profit corporations also have to disclose earnings: the IRS recently required that they share more info on the top 20 employees--and independent contractors. (That's being challenged in court; apparently not all groups think the public who is helping fund an organization deserves to know who makes what.)

CHECKING GENDER PAY GAPS IN THE UK

In the UK, the Minister for women and Equality, Harriet Harman has proposed legislation that would help close the gender gap. Her proposed Equality Bill will require companies with 250 employees or more to publish the average hourly pay of male and female workers. Many in the business community are grousing about  the added paperwork, the inexactitude of comparison, and the eruption of discrimination claims. Funny, English women aren't complaining.

NORWAY"S NAKEDNESS

Scandinavians are notoriously un-prudish--an attitude that now extends to money.  In Norway, anyone can find out how much a colleague earns because tax returns have been on line since 2005.  It doesn't seem to have impacted the wage gap which has ranged between 85%-86% for the last 10 years. But at least it's all above board.

VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE

Women should be able to know how much their colleagues are making. If HR won't tell you, there are companies that will.  Payscale.com and Salary.com collect and sell salary information to help you get paid fairly and negotiate for better pay.  Sadly, at payscale.com, the company states that gender will impact the salary you can expect.

That's information we don't really need to pay for.