career

A US woman listed every salary she's made on LinkedIn. It's divided the internet.

There are two camps of people when it comes to pay transparency: you're either all for discussing it or think it's completely inappropriate and would never.

American data analyst Charlotte Chaze sits in the first camp, recently sharing her past salaries and what she's currently making on LinkedIn.

"I just added my salary information to every full-time job I’ve had that’s on my LinkedIn," she said in a video she made about doing it.

"From unpaid to $12 an hour, €2 an hour, $29,000, $28,000, $70,000, $90,000, $104,000, $158,000. I know this won’t catch on LinkedIn, but if it did...

"When people talk about how much money they make, it helps everyone see what's possible. When I made $28k/year, I *never* thought I even deserved $70k!"

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There were comments left praising Charlotte for sharing this information so publicly.

"Brilliant, and brave. This should be normalised," one person wrote.

While another said: "This would be radical if it became popular."

Others voiced their concerns.

"Posting publicly gives potential employers data to keep underpaying you if you've been in underpaid positions," someone said.

Charlotte agreed: "100 per cent! I'm doing it because I can. It should be on the employer to be transparent, not the employee!"

"My fear is that it puts folks in a position to want to pay you in relation to what you’ve been paid previously. Your previous salary should have very little influence in your current salary negotiations," another comment said.

"You’re worth what they’re willing to pay that you can convince them of."

In December 2022, a bill was passed to amend the Fair Work Act (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) that bans pay secrecy clauses in Australian employment contracts.

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It means employees who entered into a contract on or after December 7 2022 can discuss their pay with anyone, without facing penalties.

The ban is primarily aimed to target gender pay gap, as studies have shown that greater salary transparency reduces the risk of discrimination.

The gender pay gap in Australia is sitting at 13.3 per cent, which although is a record low, means women continue to earn just 87 cents for every dollar of their male counterpart.

Each year, Nordic countries Sweden, Finland and Norway publish everyone’s income tax returns. In Sweden, you can also find out anyone's salary by calling the taxation office. 

Imagine that.

Although Charlotte is right in saying that sharing your salaries on LinkedIn probably won't catch on, further pay transparency it's something to consider.

Knowing what others are making, and what employers are offering allows employees to make informed choices.

And is one step closer to eradicating the gender pay gap.

Would you be interested in sharing your own salary anonymously? Contribute to our series 'What My Salary Gets Me'. Email submissions@mamamia.com.au to get involved.

You can catch up on our previous What My Salary Gets Me articles here:

Feature Image: Canva/Mamamia.

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