[Ksenia]

Yesterday we had a heated discussion with husband about whether you should know your co-workers� salary. Then I read this article

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I admit, I�m very curious what my co-workers make, but after dwelling on the fact, it really doesn�t matter. I would imagine that many people are always looking over their shoulder wondering how much their co-worker makes. It�s simple, they make more than you! Is that a good thing? Of course it is. Believing that a co-worker makes more than you should motivate you even more to do a better job and get noticed by others. Celebrate the fact that you are underpaid!

Think of it this way, companies are now, more than ever, looking for ways to cut operating costs. I would suspect that this happens in Human Resources to determine the highest salaries in the given departments in the company. They have a meeting with each manager and ask, who has been doing a good job, who is the hardest worker and who would be hard to replace? Wouldn�t you think they would look at who is doing the best job? (Remember, that�s you!) Sometimes I feel that people tend to get too comfortable when they make a lot of money and that their job is always safe. As we�ve seen already, that hasn�t been the case.

Let�s be realistic, there is a reason why salaries are not public knowledge (for most companies). Jealously would reign supreme and work ethic would suffer for those who know they make a lower salary than their peers. Face it, you can�t control what others make, so why stress over it? Only you know what you make, and you are in control of it. By performing well at work it will increase the likelihood of a raise each year.

Do you believe you should make more at work? Guess what, if you happen to know what a co-worker makes (maybe it�s a friend who disclosed it to you), you can�t go to your boss asking for more. It just doesn�t work that way. You�re not supposed to know, so that ammo won�t work. What you can do is volunteer for more projects and go an extra step to get noticed instead of just doing your typical daily tasks. Make notes throughout the year so when you have a review, you�ll have specific items to bring up. Doing things that save the company money is key.

While your co-workers salaries are not up for debate, industry average salaries are available for comparison. Check out Monster.com or Salary.com for salary wizards to get an idea of you�re �worth�. Remember to be level headed about salaries. We�re going through some tough economic times. I�ve already been informed I (and our entire company for that matter) will not be receiving a raise this year, but I�m very thankful I�m still employed and that our company hasn�t made any cost cutting measures.

So word of advice, don�t actively seek to find out what your co-workers make. It will do more harm than good. Do you know what your co-workers make?

http://www.stupidcen...rkers-salaries/

But I continue to see one big plus when yours and your co-workers� salary is not a secret. I suppose that it is good when there is a fixed salary�s diagram. (What do you mean?) When every position matches some fixed salary. So if you know your peer�s position you know his salary. And you know that you earn as much money as anyone with the same job position. You will not be tortured by the thought that you have been a little shy at the first interview so now you are making less money than your �brave� friend. Everyone can answer why your co-worker has a bigger salary � �because he has another position or he has another level� (when two men should do the same things but one does it better, the boss can explain the level system). (You might want to use non-gender specific terms here unless you are referring to men alone.)

What do you think? Do you know any plus of knowing your co-workers� salary?

[Emerald]

Ksenia, didn't quite get your point for having salary information disclosed.Do you mean to establish an equal salary for everyone within a level or same position and release the information about the salaries then? (2 missing articles)
Honestly, I don't think that knowing your co-workers' salary is a good idea. A company may have an equal salary for each position or level only at the beginning when two or more people are hired simultaneously for the same positions. Then almost everywhere the salary raise is considered personally. Every normal and prosperous company will index the salaries for its employees or pay bonuses on the annual basis. And the amount of bonuses or the salary raise is usually in close correlation with employee's efforts applied, motivation, contribution and many other factors as we are not living in the Communist Era any more. (6 missing articles)
What does knowing of others' salary give a person?
In case person's salary is higher than others one can be satisfied. What it is not? Here comes a problem. Employee most likely will be jealous, will start to envy his office mates, might work reluctantly, can feel that he or she was underestimated by a superior. If the salary information becomes available for everyone it will definitely cause gossiping and rumors among staff members which will affect the office climate and working performance. So I'm on the very same page (did you mean on the same page?) with the author of the article. (3 missing articles)

In case a person isn�t satisfied with his /her salary he or she might:
1) go and discuss it with a manager
2) change the job for a new one (in case a person doesn�t succeed with point 1)
3) stay with what she or he has
And one doesn�t need to know co-worker�s salary for this.
Plus always mind the fact that decision about a salary change is made by people so basically it can be considered subjective one.
I'm inclined to leave all the information concerning salaries to be confidential. (3 missing articles; last sentence unclear).

[Coerly]

Ksenia said:

When every position matches some fixed salary. So if you know your peer�s position you know his salary. And you know that you earn as much money as anyone with the same job position.

I think that the policy to have a fixed and known range of possible slalaries for a certain position is more reasonable. It gives more flexibility in managing employees.
I prefer to know what salaries at least some of my co-workers have [word order?] as it helps to understand what is the way to act [you mean, to act?] to earn more and what ways make no difference or does not worth the result. But I prefer to know it privately.

One more reason [you mean, reason?] to keep salary levels unknown is that people are generally in the opinion that nobody in the whole world [word order?] does the job better and in the same time nobody suffers more than pour things themselves. I think that announcing everybody's salary will cause great troubles with motivation ('sovetskaya bufetchitsa' will live forever). [1 article missing in this paragraph.]

[Elena]

I think, there are 2 kind of knowing for differernt kind of workers-sales manager & workers with fixed salary.If you are sales manager (or have higher post) you should know your& your co- workers' motivation's system-fixed salary,bonuses etc. Because you should imagine all part's or your "Salary".Actually, it's the big problem (now I talk about car sales),when in the end of the month managers receive a salary & don't understand what they got this amount of money (espe?ially,when this amount isn't much:))
If we talk about workers with fixed salary-NO! in any case! because (& I completely agree with Coerly) that people ALWAYS think " nobody in the whole world does the job better" & I don't know more demotivation's factor than people have this knowing!