Q & A Table of Contents
That Sounds Interesting, But How Do You Do It?
Note: This question is a follow-up to an earlier question in our website's Advice section
From: Dora, Miami, Florida
Question: You told a woman who felt she was being paid less than her colleagues to find out "How much does your employer pay other employees who have similar education, experience, responsibilities, etc.? Are there pay differences between employees who work from the corporate office and those, like you, who work out of their homes? Can you find out whether there is any differential between men and women, between heads of household and single people within your company? How does your pay compare with similarly-placed people who work for other companies in your business or in similar businesses?"
With that information in hand, you told her, she should be able to negotiate more wisely.
My question to you is: How do you propose one goes about finding out this sort of thing, when people are normally reticent to discuss how much they earn and HR departments won't reveal individual compensation information?
Response: There are many ways to find out about how much other people are paid. Human Resources departments are generally not supposed to reveal any information about employees, and many companies frown on salary discussion among employees. In addition, as you stated, people don't tend to want to talk about their compensation.
Nonetheless one can do research by asking public agencies -- both Federal and State -- what information they have about salaries and compensation packages in specific job categories. The US Bureau of the Census has considerable data on this as do State departments of employment security.
One can also contact several local employment agencies to find out what they know about salaries and compensation, including such issues as differences among people with varied qualifications, or differing ethnicity or gender.
Trade associations, labor unions, Chambers of Commerce and other business or professional groups often maintain information about pay and benefits. One can also do research by contacting the career counseling offices of colleges, high schools, and other educational institutions.
In addition to all of these organizations, asking diplomatically-phrased questions of individuals may well yield answers. While folks may not go around announcing their compensation for all the world to hear, they very often are willing to respond to direct questions from people they know, colleagues for whom they want to do a favor. They may not give information about themselves, but they may pass along what they believe to be the situation of other people in the organization.
Remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question. It may not be considered smart to answer every question, but unless a question is asked, the information is not likely to be forthcoming.
If a pay issue is important to someone, they should not be too lazy to undertake the necessary research to find helpful answers.
Good luck with this,
Steve
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