What are your thoughts about salary transparency? Will you share your salary (whether a range or the exact number) if your peer asks you how much you're earning?

Hi community, I'm curious about what everyone feels about the subject of being open about how much you're making (when peers e.g. ex schoolmates or ex colleagues ask).

For example - if you've been looking for a new job and finally found one, it would be natural for the topic of how much the new company is offering you to come up in conversations during gatherings.

I feel okay to share my salary when it's about the same grade as my peers, or whoever I'm sharing with. But in general, I don't enjoy giving people this information because I feel that it's none of people's business, and I don't ask them about their salary either. But if they ask, I tend to feel obliged to answer.

The issue comes when your salary eventually becomes a lot higher - and there's a worry about coming across as braggy, or worse, attracting jealousy or making people feel insecure about themselves.

On the flipside, it would be nice to have your friends celebrate your achievements.

What's your take on this?

Discussion (35)

What are your thoughts?

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29 Dec 2023

If you do not feel comfortable sharing I think its okay to not share it. Or maybe you can just say a range

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Warren Buffett's Son

Edited 28 Dec 2023

For a close friend who I know is mentally stable, I normally share a range, especially when I know the market has that range, however when your salary is above the market I think we need to be cautious as our goodwill to share may trigger the unexpected.

In my earlier 2 years of career experience when I just joined a new company, I've met a fresh grad guy from the local top university. When he found out I earned more than him (obviously because I worked 2 years earlier than him), he suddenly complained to HR with the reasoning he graduated from a better university (although he doesn't have work experience yet, he rationalized that his experience when he was doing stuff in the university lab), which in my head I had another 4 years of experience as I was busy self build PC and sell it, buy and sell many software stuff, and busy with computer labs in the Uni, lol.

Learning from that experience, I'm now more cautious when sharing this, and I don't think we are obliged to share this, especially when you know the person is the kind of jealous type and doesn't want to lose type.

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Wong Zhi Bin

24 Dec 2023

It is beneficial to share the range

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Chin Guo Qiang

14 Dec 2023

Assistant Vice President, IT EUC at OCBC

Transparency begets competition, this sentence alone says it all.

Getting to know a salary range amongst your peers and work colleagues do help you negotiate for a better pay on the next job also, or just negotiate for the pay to be revised (at the right time).

It can also be a potential "Make-or-break" for social gatherings so do exercise caution, to avoid misunderstandings and envy.

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