The Y Generation’s “Culture of Transparency”

When Dustin Zick, 25, was ready to leave his job in 2012 as a social-media specialist at BuySeasons Inc., a Milwaukee-based online retailer, he compared notes with “five or six” trusted co-workers about their pay, and found most of them happy to divulge.

Several of his colleagues, also looking for new opportunities, strategized together about what salaries they were aiming for and how to negotiate to get there. The conversations helped Mr. Zick achieve his target salary at his new position as a social-media manager at a hospitality company, he says.

The Wall Street Journal has a story looking at how the current young generation of workers are breaking one of the workplace’s taboos: talking to each other about how much they earn. At my last job at a big company, we also talked about what we earned, but like Zick’s situation, we only did it among close colleagues. Websites like Glassdoor and Salary.com are helpful to gauge numbers in certain industries, but knowing numbers in the very place you work is far more helpful. Do you talk about what you earn with trusted colleagues?

Photo: pupismyname

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