Employers in the private sector are not allowed to forbid their staff from talking about their pay and benefits. Use that defense to your advantage.
According to experts, open salary conversation among peers and coworkers is a potent weapon against pay inequality. Pay transparency not only serves selfish and altruistic purposes by giving you and your coworkers better bargaining power during salary discussions, but it can also protect businesses by reducing the risk of disparate treatment claims and increasing job satisfaction for workers.
Only recently have cultural norms and legal restrictions started to dismantle some of the factors that prevent employees from discussing salaries openly, sometimes even tipping the scales in their favor during wage negotiations.
A few states, such as California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, have made it illegal for employers to inquire about job seekers' salaries, giving them more negotiating power. President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2014 that forbade federal contractors from retaliating against workers who want to talk about their pay. Additionally, unionization has grown to be a potent force in the struggle for higher worker wages in several areas, such as the news media.
Although having these discussions is far easier stated than done, there are ways to have the confidence to do so.
The most crucial thing is to be honest and upfront, presenting these discussions as advantageous for everyone concerned. We advise starting with those who are more senior than you, such as a former manager, someone who helped you get your job, or someone you really trust and who wants you to succeed. This might help you see the pay at your organization in a larger context.
From there, make an effort to approach friends, coworkers, or graduates in casual, off-campus settings, all the while maintaining the emphasis on the salary and not the individual.
Try to avoid making it about your coworker or a peer. It's not about looking around for rumors. Websites like Salary, PayScale, and LinkedIn are fantastic places to look for a starting point.
A win-win strategy is considered by many experts to be the most effective way to make salaries public. People are typically more open to sharing when approached with the mindset that "I'm doing this for both of us, I'm not doing this to shame you."