Workers Share Their Salary Secrets

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Charles Caulkins for the April 17 article “Workers Share Their Salary Secrets.” The publication reported on the “culture of transparency” among the new workforce of individuals born in the 1980s and 1990s. Comparing salaries among colleagues has long been taboo in the workplace, but a generation accustomed to documenting their lives in real time on social-media forums like Facebook and Twitter are bringing their embrace of self-disclosure into the office with them. They're using this information to negotiate raises at their current employer or higher salaries when moving to a new job. Charles noted that companies may not like transparency, but they cannot outright bar rank-and-file employees from disclosing their pay internally or externally under the federal National Labor Relations Act. That means that an employee handbook or social-media policy barring workers from disclosing their pay is generally a violation. The rules are different for managers and supervisors, who can legally be prevented from disclosing pay.