Can You Keep A Secret?

Early in my career I worked for a very successful, decades-old manufacturing company who maintained the practice of posting their salary structures on the walls next to the punch clock machines.  Every grade and salary range up to management positions was available for public viewing.

I was young and unseasoned at the time, hadn't been around much yet, so didn't think much of the practice at the time - either way.  It was just the way things were at that company.

Those were the days

Flash forward to today.  In your organization, if an employee asks about the salary range of a job other than their own, do you tell them?  If an employee asks the grade designation of a job not their own, do you answer them?  Or do you say that it's none of their business?  That it's on a need-to-know basis.

As my professional career progressed from those early days it often seemed that the disclosure practices of my employers slipped backward into the era of "we - they" management philosophies.  An era I thought long gone.  In one company the employee wouldn't be told the minimum and maximum of their own salary range.  Another employer would readily inform an employee of their own salary range, but not the range of a job one grade higher.  Say again?

Now of course it's entirely possible that my own career progression of employers is a unique combination of companies not typically replicated by many of you out there.  Perhaps most of you still post your salary ranges on the break room wall, or the pay grades are simply included within the periodic employer newsletters.

I'm betting that's not the case.

But why? Why not disclose the key elements of your job evaluation and base salary structure?  What's the harm in letting employees know where they stand, and what their career progression could look like?  What's the harm?  What's the big secret?

Whenever I asked that question, in all innocence and with a guileless question mark on my face, the usual answer was, "that's the policy.  Always been that way."  Dumb answer.  Pushing my query further never did get me a decent explanation though, which left me with the obvious conclusion that something was better off hidden from the employees.

Some sort of management discretion that would be challenged by letting too many people know what's going on.

Hiding the crown jewels

If a company is going to restrict information about their pay programs, it's common to guard two key elements:

• Salary range - laying out the minimum and maximum, or even just the midpoint.  Letting you know how much you're paid in relation to how the company has valued your job

• Grade - the designation of a position within the hierarchy.  If you know your grade, chances are you can figure (or guess) the grade of others - including perhaps your boss

Then again, if the grading structure can be manipulated, or job evaluations are slanted one way or another, perhaps there are a few skeletons in the closet after all. Perhaps there are little secrets better kept hidden.

If not, then why not post the salary structure on the office wall?  All the grades, all the salary ranges, and all the jobs covered by the compensation program.  For those who like to keep their little secrets, you can cut off the disclosure at the executive level.  No personal data need slip out at all.

Ohhhh, but that would be heresy in most quarters, wouldn't it?  If those jobs have been fairly and objectively evaluated and priced against both internal and external factors, what is the reason for the locked drawer attitude?  If there is nothing to hide, if you can defend, or at least explain your decisions, then why not hang your laundry out in the sun?

What's the big secret?

I think we know.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  With over 30 years Rewards experience Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a brood of cats. 

Image courtesy of Gregoire Lannoy

Comments

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Most of the insecurity tends to come from the Executive Suite where the VIPs don't like to admit they don't know the answer to basic questions about the pay administration program. Rather than be embarrassed or placed on the defensive, they frequently ban such discussions, which creates more hazard and fosters suspicion.

[Chuck Csizmar]

Suspicion is always fostered when the door is shut. Whenever I shut an inside door in my house I quickly have two or more cats sniffing and scratching around - wondering what's on the other side.

In this regard employees are no different, as secrecy without explanation will likewise cause a lot of sniffing and scratching about.

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[Laura Schroeder]

Well, of course it's a secret - if you tell someone what the next grade pay range is, next thing you know they'll be wanting more money!

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[jacque vilet]

Chuck great article. My opinion is that management is really the group that is uncomfortable with communicating compensation with employees.

I think there is a difference between "transparency" and "clarity". I think Margaret (???) pointed that out in an article here recently. Transparency just means laying everything out on the table for all to see. Clarity explains what people are seeing. Big difference.

I'm totally in favor of communicating with "clarity" the compensation programs. I'm also in favor of including all positions/grades, etc. including top management.

After all, we're all in this together aren't we????