commentary Commentary
Commentary: Why are our salaries still a sensitive topic?
Talking about our salaries with our peers still seems awkward and uncomfortable, Financial Times' Jo Ellison points out.
LONDON: I unearthed many treasures during last weekend’s pre-Christmas clear-out. Highlights included: A copy of my last will and testament; a Cork Film Festival press pass on which I have a terrifying Amelie-homage haircut; a yellowing print advertisement for nuclear power starring my younger brother in a fake Lacoste shirt, and leaving cards in which much mirth is had about my charmingly controlling manner.
Naturally I shared all of these on my Instagram story, because I have lost the ability to discern appropriate social boundaries and am now a chronic over-sharer.Â
But none elicited quite the response as that provoked by a picture of the contract I signed on joining Vogue magazine as features editor in February 2008. I highlighted the bit that stipulated that my salary would be ÂŁ55,000 (US$69,000).
I’m not sure whether I considered the remuneration especially generous, stingy or indifferent. It was simply a fact. At the time, it felt appropriate for someone taking on a senior role at a famous publication.Â
I had come from a newspaper, where wages were typically bigger and the office was more male. The financial crisis of September was still a distant threat. Then there was the fact that it was, you know, a childhood dream to work at Vogue.
READ:Â Should you get to decide what you are paid? A commentary
MOST TAKING HOME LESS
For the majority of those who responded to the post, however, it was clear the figure was a king’s ransom. Particularly today, 10 years later, following a period of austerity and salary freezes, and at a time when publishing is generally considered to be “in decline”.Â
Other colleagues at Conde Nast, the publisher of Vogue, were quick to compare their salaries — mostly lower. A peer working at a rival publishing house wrote to tell me:Â
You’ve got us all swapping salaries in the WhatsApp groups … no one is getting paid that now … very few above £38,000.
Independent magazine editors were paid about ÂŁ10,000 less again.
Public relations officers and e-comms publishers offered similar tales of their own. And throughout the commentary, dozens of editorial assistants offered stories about their lives on entry-level contracts that pay little more than a minimum wage.Â
Most marvelled at the possibility they might ever earn a comparable salary. “The entry level of a junior writer or editorial assistant is around ÂŁ19,000 to ÂŁ21,000,” wrote one.Â
It’s almost impossible to make ends meet.
Such casual disclosure revealed very quickly how far austerity politics have eroded wage expectations, and not just in the UK. Canadian colleagues were astounded by our nation’s one-time largesse.Â
It also highlighted once more a work culture in which social privilege and independent means are still a passport to a career. Glossy jobs pay peanuts because employees can afford it.Â
As a former editor at US Vogue, in New York, where I had naively assumed all editors are paid bajillions, wrote to say:Â
My first salary at Vogue was US$23,000. Conde Nast has workhorses, show ponies and thoroughbreds. Love, a show pony.
Many media organisations are split between workhorses and show ponies — those that do the thankless, heavy lifting and production, and those that prance around the ring, prettifying everything they touch. Neither, it transpires, are especially well paid. Unless you’re a thoroughbred.
WE'RE STILL UNCOMFORTABLE TALKING ABOUT OUR OWN WAGES
Gender pay gap legislation in the UK has made this an especially lively year in which to talk about pay packets.Â
In June, the BBC was riven with internal angst following revelations of a huge pay gap among its top talents. Many media outlets, including the Financial Times, have outlined strategies aimed at redressing imbalances.Â
What was more shocking about these exchanges was that the majority of those I talked to were women. The disparities revealed here weren’t about sexism, or gender inequality, but about a culture of silence.Â
READ: The unequal, unnoticed life of a female worker, a commentary
Many of the commenters had never discussed their salaries with anyone — especially not with their peers.Â
No one talks about it.
Even though, in the UK, you are legally entitled to ask your employer about what a peer in an equivalent role might earn, it seems we are as likely to discuss our sex lives as our salaries. Why?Â
Despite a year of transparency, and an avowal to be more open about pay hierarchies, we are still uncomfortable when it comes to talking about our wages. We can deal with it in general, but individually less so.Â
How many people know how much you earn, for example? I’m not sure even my husband knows.
Perhaps it’s a British condition. Or perhaps it’s more true of workplaces where the majority of employees are women. Culturally, it’s not considered decorous to discuss our worth. Or to compare our worth with others.
AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS
So, should we show our pay cheques for all to see? On National Jealousy Day, which falls on Nov 1 every year, the Finnish tax administration releases details of every citizen’s taxable income in compliance with that government’s transparency laws.Â
As comparative exercises go, it sounds a bit Hunger Games. It’s certainly a source of endless gossip. Does it serve any good? Arguably, it makes Finns more accountable and honest.Â
But wage disclosures also bring shame and resentment. My own retrospective gesture of transparency opened all sorts of conversations — some awkward.
It certainly put into sharper context why this new generation of millennials has become so “demanding”.
A common criticism of younger employees today is that they all have unreasonable expectations. They ask for job reviews too frequently. They have no loyalty.Â
I listened to one chief executive recently going on about how he had to provide snacks to keep his workforce happy. They all wanted gym memberships, he said — and had no real hunger for the work.
Damn straight. They’re probably starving. Even show ponies need feeding.
© 2018 The Financial Times Ltd.Â
