Rules aside, your employees are talking money
Posted On July 29, 2014
A new LinkedIn study on relationships at work is making HR directors across the country cringe. But not for the reason you might think. Despite many companies having direct rules prohibiting it, more than two-thirds of Millennials are comfortable sharing personal information—including salary—with their coworkers.
What’s fueling younger employees to commit the ultimate faux pas? The potential reasons are many. Millennials are, in general, more liberal in their thinking. They don’t hold as strictly to social norms and traditional boundaries. The internet certainly plays a role – this is a generation fully accustomed to revealing private information to strangers, so sharing personal information with peers is hardly worth notice.
But is information sharing such a bad thing? It can certainly cause discomfort when someone is viewed as being over or under valued. But it can also create positive competition and give employees a clear expectation of their earning potential over time.
If salary disclosure makes you nervous, consider a proactive approach. Publish salary ranges for different employment levels so that much of the mystery is removed. This may be uncomfortable for the Boomers in the office, but Gen X and Millennials are all about transparency.