Who do you share your salary information with?

[Ronni]

I share with my fiance, my best friends, and my mom.

Although, I do agree that many employers don't want employees to tell because they know that they're paying some people more than they deserve, and others less than they deserve for whatever reason, and this will cut back on calling them out on it.

[anitra]

I have no problem sharing, although I've rarely shared with my co-workers.

I don't care if people know how much I make - but if they do inquire, I follow up with talking about how much student loan debt my husband and I have.

For friends and family, my husband and I usually conflate our incomes together; my husband makes less money than I do (for now), and he's a little embarrassed by it. We treat all income as "ours" rather than "yours" and "mine" anyway. We have very similar jobs, so people can assume we each make 1/2 of the total.

[boba1212]

I am comfortable sharing my salary information with my close friends. Nobody is judgemental, and we see "eye to eye" on the reality of job market fluctuations and what jobs are currently hot/high paying/etc.

On the other hand, I am extremely reluctant and uncomfortable telling my parents my salary. They always come up with strange "facts" and one day told me that the average 20-30 year old was earning 60K starting salary! They also see things very, umm, old school, and the only "real" careers are doctor, lawyer, "finance" or engineer. They still don't see my current job as "real." They are PO'ed that even with my advanced degree, I'm not earning the big bucks, EVEN THOUGH my salary is actually in the median of range for my type of job. Ugh.

[Julie Rains]

Originally Posted by boba1212

On the other hand, I am extremely reluctant and uncomfortable telling my parents my salary. They always come up with strange "facts" and one day told me that the average 20-30 year old was earning 60K starting salary!

I often wonder where these figures come from -- usually they are self-reported and not necessarily documented. My parents were just happy I got a job out of college; I'm sure yours are proud in their own way.

[mtilmin]

I too agree with most.

Keeping this information safe does prevent the non-relevant categorization by others and can keep you away from a slew of issues.

While i think it might not be wrong to share this, in this day in age it has become a problem.
It has become a standard in which to perceive, judge, rate and categorize talent and and a person.

I'll just keep it away from my conversation.

[Xin Lu]

Originally Posted by Julie Rains

I often wonder where these figures come from -- usually they are self-reported and not necessarily documented. My parents were just happy I got a job out of college; I'm sure yours are proud in their own way.

yeah a lot of the salary information is self reported, but I think parents read them in the news. Here's a post I wrote about my school's starting salaries:

http://baglady.dreamhosters.com/2007...-last-7-years/

[blintze]

Only my wife and my boss know.....

[Kathryn]

Originally Posted by beren

Do you share your salary information with your family, friends or coworkers?

Most employers encourage employees to keep their salary information secret. This is suppose to cut down on jealousy and bickering in the workplace.

But in reality, I think that's just "The Man" trying to keep us down. If we all shared our salary information with each other, we would be in a much stronger bargaining position against the employer.

You have to be cautious with this, though. If you find out the guy in the cubicle next to you is making 5 grand more than you, are you actually going to be able to leverage this into more money for yourself, or is it just going to make you resentful? If the guy in the cubicle next to you finds out that you make 5 grand more than he does--again, how's that going to affect the work dynamic?

I think a better strategy than knowing specific salaries of specific coworkers is to have a general sense of the "going rate" for your skills in your particular area. Knowing that other employers in your area are hiring people with similar backgrounds to perform similar roles gives you ammunition when you go into a salary negotiation--because if your employer is not willing to offer you a competitive salary, then it proves you have options to find one that will.

[boba1212]

Interesting, a coworker recently quit for a higher paying job (doing essentially the same job function, pfffft) and she was quite open to tell me her "sucky" salary at my company. I kept my mouth shut because it turns out she was earning less than I was, yet we have same job title. Now if I'd told her, she would be stewing with resentment and probably jealousy towards me. So, NOT a good idea to share salary info with coworkers.

[Future Millionaire]

My me the IRS knows, blog readers of www.savingsavy.blogspot.com since I tell the world anonomously. Those would be the only ones that I told.

People I didn't tell but know via work are my boss, my boss' boss, my boss's boss's seceratry, HR, etc etc, its really sad pretty much everyone that's above me on the corperate ladder knows. Personally I'd dieing to know what my co-workers make because I hope that I'm being treated equally.