As salary transparency becomes more widespread it's increasingly easy to measure up how your wage compares to similar roles on the market. In theory, the practice can help close the gap that women, people of color and other minorities often experience, as pay inequalities become public.
But one worker has taken matters into her own hands: Charlotte Chaze, founder of Break Into Tech, recently posted the salaries of all of her previous jobs to her LinkedIn profile.
The 32-year-old tech worker said on her TikTok channel that she added the salary for each job—from $28,000 to be a research assistant, to $158,000 as a senior analytics manager for AT&T—to “do her part to make salary transparency happen”.
@charlottechaze Salary transparency on my LinkedIn for every job I've had* *that's worthy enough to be on LinkedIn. I don't have my time at Domino's Pizza, Smoothie King, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Coldstone Creamery, or Chesapeake Bay Candles on there! I actually *don't* recommend doing this yourself. Showing a potential future employer what you currently make could cause them to lowball you! I'm just doing it because I can and it's helpful for others. Use it to your advantage! #salarytransparency #salary #mysalary #pay #work #job #career #greenscreenvideo #paychecks #receipts ♬ original sound - Charlotte • Break Into Tech®
Her LinkedIn profile went viral, thanks in part to this tweet which has been viewed over 4 million times, with people conflicted on whether Chaze's candor is a smart or foolish idea.
This person listed all their past and current salaries on LinkedIn.
— zakovska (@sanjazakovska) July 10, 2023
Would you do it? I’m kinda digging it. pic.twitter.com/lKPVFIEzv3
As her own boss, Chaze felt she had both freedom and responsibility to post her salary information but according to Rameez Kaleem, the founder and managing director at 3R Strategy, she’s part of a growing trend.
He told Fortune that a number of clients at his remuneration consultancy have experienced employees sharing their salaries online “because they feel that they're underpaid in their current job”.
“Other people are putting their salary on LinkedIn to reduce the risk of time-wasting, poorly paid recruitment opportunities,” Kaleem says. "They’re making their current salaries public to say, 'This is what I currently earn. If you're going to make me an offer, it has to be higher than this, otherwise, I just won’t bother.'”
Is posting your salary counterintuitive?
By disclosing what you’re currently on, Zahra Amiry, Omnicom Media Group’s associate director of talent attraction cautions that you could be sabotaging your chances of substantially increasing your salary in the future.
“By effectively saying, ‘Don't approach me for a role, which is less than this’ you're capping yourself,” she explains because hiring managers will most likely look at this information and form their job offer based on your current salary.
It means that those who are already being paid below market value for their role, risk being lowballed.
“All this does is transfer the inequity and discrimination from one company to the next,” Kaleem echoes, while adding that it’s especially risky for those who don’t know the current market value of their role or are transitioning into another industry that pays much higher.
“They may think they’re being paid well when they’re actually far below the market median for that position,” he adds. “Publishing your salary with this in mind can demonstrate to employers that you’re happy to sit at the lower end of a salary range.”
Meanwhile, even those who know they’re being underpaid lose their ability to negotiate when they’ve put all their cards on the table.
Risk of damaging relations with your current employer
Although it’s perfectly legal to do so, publishing your salary while you’re still employed can cause unnecessary internal friction and impact how you’re perceived by management.
Really, most modern businesses are slowly trying to reduce pay inequalities and are introducing measures like salary banding to do so.
“It takes a long time to get there,” Amiry says, adding that some team members may experience a pay adjustment sooner than others. “You don't know what your peers are earning, so you'll be displaying some pretty significant discrepancies potentially which could cause tension.”
Not only could outing your salary put a strain on the relationship you hold with your peers and your boss (who has to deal with the fallout), but Kaleem warns that it risks damaging the reputation of your company, which certainly won’t land well.
“As a result, it could definitely ruin future progression opportunities with that employer,” he says.
The first port of call, if you are frustrated with your pay, is to speak with your line manager and HR department.
But if you feel like all avenues have been exhausted, rather than sharing your individual pay publicly, you could consider using anonymous salary-sharing websites, such as Glassdoor, to voice your frustrations without exposing yourself to potential backlash.
Alternatively, if poor pay is a company-wide issue, you could rally together your peers in protest. “If you have a large group of people that are part of this movement, it can force organizations to rethink their strategy.”
