Why is asking what a person’s salary is so taboo in the workplace?

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There’s like this weird culture around it where some may even consider it rude or too personal like it’s equivalent to asking someone their social security number or something
I’ve heard a rumor it’s because companies/bosses don’t want people to talk about their pay between employees because they may find discrepancies compared to their coworkers, but I’m not 100% sure that’s actually why since even their employees consider it taboo.

In: Economics

30 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It causes awkward situations.

Just this past winter I was working alongside an older guy with many years of experience more than myself. However, I have been at this company since day one in a variety of positions, with a hefty raise being given when I ran a crew for a few months.

Out of curiosity my coworker asked how much money I took home on the last check as it was my first “big” check in a new part of the company. I thought for a second, subtracted about 800 dollars off of the total, and I was *still* making more than him. I had hoped 800 would be enough for it to seem like he was making more than me so as to not stir shit up.

He was visibly bothered by this even though he said he didn’t care, and I guarantee that situation might’ve moved up the ladder as he probably demanded more money as he was, again, more experienced than me and at the time my *superior*.

So yeah, that’s a good reason why it’s not a good idea to discuss wages.

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