Should Salaries Be Made Public?

The radio show Here and Now on NPR station WBUR in Boston had an interesting segment today. It discussed the pros and cons of "salary transparency". Here's a summary of the discussion:

"Some researchers say most of us think we are underpaid and that colleagues are making more money than they actually are. Is salary transparency the solution? We speak to Traci Fenton, founder of WorldBlu, which compiles a list of what it calls the most democratic workplaces..."

The best part comes at the end. The host asks the proponent what her salary is, and she chooses not to share that information. Telling perhaps, but there may be certain work situations where this could help. It will be interesting to see if this becomes more widely adopted.

You can listen to the full audio clip online here.

Photo credit: su.bo

Best Corporate Practices 2008

businessweek.com: "Sometimes the difference between the best and worst company policies comes down to one thing: trust. Learn how to use it..."

This is an interesting article. The best stuff is in the 'slideshow' that covers "The 10 Best Corporate Practices, 2008 - A lot of these good ideas have been around for a while. It's time for employers to put them into practice before they lose their best workers..." Here's a summary of the 10 trends:

1. A Real Vacation Policy
2. Spot Bonuses
3. Instant Seniority
4. Community at Work
5. Pooled Sick-Time Banks
6. Customized Benefit Plans
7. Peer Mentoring
8. A Room of Her Own
9. Flex Time and Flex Place
10. Word of Mouth Recruiting

Read the full article...

CareerBuilder.com Survey Reveals How Many Workers Commit Office Taboos

So where do you fall, or might you care to note something interesting about your coworkers?...

via creativepro.com: "Ever wonder why you can't seem to get anything done in the office? It may be because your co-workers are preoccupied with something other than work. 'Workplace Taboos' is a new CareerBuilder.com survey, conducted by Harris Interactive of more than 5,700 workers. The most common workplace taboos that workers admitted to taking part in include:

• Falling asleep at work (45 percent)
• Kissing a co-worker (39 percent)
• Consuming alcoholic beverages while on the job (21 percent)
• Stealing from the office (22 percent)
• Spreading a rumor about a co-worker (22 percent)
• Snooping after hours (18 percent)
• Lying about an academic background (4 percent)
• Taking credit for someone else's work (2 percent)"

Seth Godin: "The honor system"

Notable Marketing Guru Seth Godin has a hand in the online publishing and community website Squidoo.com. Recently squidoo suffered from a large-scale spamming 'attack' that violated the rules of the site, but nevertheless was able to be carried out before being dealt with. Squidoo has responded well and kept people up to date. What may be even more interesting is Seth's personal perspective on the situation:

Excerpt: "...So, online, you're between a rock and a hard place. The first opportunity is to treat your friends better than ever, because word of mouth online is incredibly powerful. The Net brings significant leverage--you can spread ideas farther and faster.

The temptation is to embrace only the advantages of the web and insist on eternal vigilance against the possiblity of getting ripped off. To act as if everyone online is a criminal. To assume that the moment you are generous or trusting, squadrons of bad actors will exploit your generosity. I don't think that's the answer. If you treat people like criminals, the good ones will leave, because people have a choice.

There's a different path. Awareness of the potential problem helps you keep your eyes open. You can watch the trends, be aware, but still embrace the honor system. Realize that the vast majority of your customers will always want to do the right thing. Look both ways before crossing the street... but still cross..."
Read the full article.