Comments on: The real reason employers want your salary history: Hiring is a crapshoot

By: donallover

donallover — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:57:23 +0000

I said above, “Why is it their business anyway?”

I would add, I don’t tell my brother or brother in law how much I made last year; only the IRS.

How could an employer possibly feel it was their bidniz?

By: donallover

donallover — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:55:16 +0000

1. Can an applicant claim that his former employer made them agree not to reveal salary information due to competition?

2. Further, would that same individual be able to claim it even if its not in the same industry, in other words the new company isn’t really a competitor?

3. What is the reaction by most HR when I complete an online form for salary and state $0?

4. Further still, would someone please tell me the legit justification for why its any of their business what I made four jobs and 10 years ago? My life, my circumstances were very different. I may need more or less or the same. Why is it their business anyway?

By: scottthekyhrguy

scottthekyhrguy — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:11:59 +0000

Karsten — you’re dead on target. The NLRB has consistently found that prohibition of salary and benfits discussions constitute union busting. A big no-no and a sign of an HR department that doesn’t understand the liability for writing bad policies.

Tacky to talk about money with your peers? Maybe. But it is more or less your right to be tacky.

By: Two takes on cluelessness. -- Hoover’s Business Insight Zone

Two takes on cluelessness. -- Hoover’s Business Insight Zone — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:46:47 +0000

[...] 2. Corporate recruiter Nick Corcodilos thinks that “[hiring] companies demand salary information because they don’t know how to run their business for profit”: The real reason employers want your salary history: Hiring is a crapshoot [...]

By: j

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:03:23 +0000

Possibly—although I don’t think my industry (advertising) has ever had unions.

By: Karsten

Karsten — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:30:59 +0000

I see the logic for your company, but not allowing employees to talk money even to each other seems extreme.

I would suspect such a rule to also be a part of a union busting scheme, a split-and-rule tactic: How can people join together behind complaints if they are not allowed to talk enough to identify the problem?

By: Nick Corcodilos

Nick Corcodilos — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:17:44 +0000

RE: Salary NDA’s

I’m not a lawyer (so here I go getting into trouble), but I imagine the business logic is simple. Compensation is kept confidential because it’s a competitive advantage. A company believes that what it pays (high or low) gives it an edge that it does not want to compromise.

Ironic, isn’t it — because the same company probably asks applicants for their salary history.

By: j

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:32:27 +0000

P.S.—In fact, I suspect that if more agencies in my profession insisted that their people keep their salaries confidential from future employers, then the entire industry could get away with paying much lower salaries across the board.

By: j

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:26:24 +0000

The clause that includes salary in our confidentiality agreement helps minimize exposure of our (independent) company information to our (publically owned) competitors when they occasionally try to poach our people. Because we charge our clients based on a percentage of profit above our cost structure, rather than the (much pricier) fee-based invoicing of our (less profitable) rivals, keeping our cost structure undisclosed provides a significant competitive advantage.

(I don’t know the legal technicalities involved in enforcing the clause; if a lawyer wants to chime in on that, I’d welcome the perspective.)

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:25:51 +0000

OK, BJ, I’ll bite.
What is the legal basis for having a clause around salary in a confidentiality contract or even in a non-compete? I don’t expect you’ll know the answer to this. Perhaps a lawyer could help out here.

In the meantime, I support your position. You needed to keep it quiet.