Why Millennials Share their Salary Information
Millennials are an interesting generation and nowhere has this manifested clearly than at the workplace. They have been identified as a clique of individuals that is willing to connect, share and associate and this is being done at greater magnitudes than expected. It has been documented that a third of millennials share their salary information with coworkers and this has sparked outrage and concern among the older generation since it has been considered a taboo topic for ages. Here are 9 reasons that expound on why the millennials share the salary information.
Informed bargaining
Millennials target a setting where they can effectively structure informed bargaining at the workplace when it comes to salaries. It has been widely assumed that millennials are discriminated against when it comes to the bargaining power at the workplace. Whether it is individual bargaining or the negotiations leading to Collective Bargaining Agreements, sharing of salary information achieves the setting where the millennials get to have a basis for bargaining.
Avoid wage discrimination
There is no major injustice at the workplace that is greater than wage discrimination. This is because it undervalues the impact that an employee is making to the company. In a bid to stop wage discrimination, millennials have identified the concept of sharing their salary information as a factor that streamlines the issue. By sharing the salary information, millennials stand in solidarity with coworkers and advocate against the cases of wage inequality. With more cases of employees being discriminated on the basis of their wages from job to job, shared salary information eliminates the eventuality of personnel being segregated on the basis of what they earned in previous jobs.
Spirit of transparency
Millennials are an open book and this means they are inclined to share their information with colleagues, friends and their online community. At the workplace, the spirit of transparency comes into play through sharing the salary information. This helps them identify the instances when they are being paid less than their equally qualified coworkers. This is the full proof measure millennials have when it comes to eliminating pay disparities.
Empowerment
Sharing the salary information stands as a tool of empowerment for the millennial employees since it gives colleagues an idea of the value a company places on them. When the workplace setting is being brought into sharp focus, employees are often the scapegoats since the company always targets reducing the costs while extending profits and with this concept becoming public knowledge, employees tend to lose morale to work and deliver. By sharing the salary information, millennials are able to boost morale by becoming a collective entity.
Identify value of merit
When a millennial shares their salary information with a coworker, the idea behind it is to identify value of merit. With most recruiters always keen to identify the previous salary an employee had before joining their company, some millennials always end up being employed on the previous salary they had in a similar position. Unfortunately, this fails to reflect the merit they have when it comes to the position they hold.
Make informed comparisons
Millennials are known to make workplace considerations based on career development. They therefore share salary information to inform their mindset as to which considerations need to be made as far as career development is concerned. When millennials share salary information, they often do so in order to identify when it is time to move on from one job since it gives an overall picture of the competitive rates for the role being held.
Demystify opaque salary systems
Since time immemorial, salary systems for companies have been a taboo and an opaque platform that is treated with mystery. In a bid to demystify the opaque salary systems, millennials always look to share their salary information with colleagues as they believe this removes the aspect of sensitivity placed on wages and salaries. By demystifying the setting, millennials achieve a standardization system that eliminates the suspense.
Reveal gender wage gap
It has been widely documented that the job market has a huge disparity in wages when it comes to the genders. Millennials have aimed to reveal and bridge the gap which is why a third of them share their salary information with coworkers. Millennials are motivated to reveal the wage gap existing between genders as this provides confidence and leverage when it comes to negotiating for better pay as far as respective genders are concerned.
It makes for a point of reference
By sharing their salary information, millennials get to have a point of reference when making a submission to their employer. This stands as a major win for millennials since it gives the perception that they are in control and that they can make informed submissions to the respective companies based on accurate information from coworkers.
