Here's Why You Should Definitely Tell Your Co-Workers Your Salary Contradictory to what you might think, sharing your salary is important and empowering to your growth

By Rustam Singh

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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They say never ask a woman her age and never ask a man his salary. But then "they" used to say a lot of stereotypical things that no longer hold relevance in the modern society. Our notion of what is right and what is wrong has drastically changed over the years, and this should also reflect on our work ethics. Why is sharing your salary with your co-workers considered wrong, even though you are earning your rightful share of money for doing legal, legitimate work as obligated by your contract of employment? Here's why you should share your salary:

It's legal and nobody can stop you

Speaking by the Indian Constitution, which is also shared by a majority of nations across the world, there is no law that prohibits you from sharing your legal income to your coworkers or others. In fact, your contract of employment must also reflect the same. If it specifically states you're not allowed to share this figure, ask them why. Are they dodging taxes or denying the rightful share to others? Or are you being ripped in thinking you're getting more than your peers but the reality is exactly the opposite?

Let employees feel empowered

All the taboo talk of not talking of the money one makes wrongly empowers companies to exploit its employees. You think your fellow employees will often think if you share your income they will resent you, but the fact is people will resent the company for giving them unequal salary instead. Employees should have the power to make fair negotiations while discussing their salaries.

Tilt pay negotiations towards your favor

Keeping employees in bliss about each other's salaries is exactly what employees want. You have no clue what your peer is making if you never talk about it with them openly. When joining or asking for an increment or a raise, it's important to know the threshold limit or average salaries around in your workplace.

Bridged gender wage gaps

On an average, women make ridiculously less for the same work and this difference is called the gender wage gap. However, it's impossibly difficult for women to understand this difference on the surface because there is simply not enough communications to know the average salary in the company. Discussing the same could be one major step towards bridging the gap.

Builds transparency and trust between colleges

It only looks fearful that you'll attract the hate of everyone if your share your salary. But in real life, you'll gain the trust of your employees for being transparent and not running a fishy advantageous side-business from your company that denies them the right to make the same salary that you do.

Do you share your salary openly with your employees? Or do you keep your figure under covers? Let us know in the comments on our official Facebook page Entrepreneur India

Rustam Singh

Sub-Editor- Entrepreneur.com

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