My prior company provided many facts about the HR process, but gender equality was never one of them 😉

*male not make. Phone’s autocorrect. 🙁

I completely agree, and think that’s the inherent value in salary audits. Women who bring the same credentials and/or equivalent experience as their make counterparts (or more) should be paid accordingly, but often are not. Discussing it with your peers at work does bring some spirit of mutiny, which is why I prefer the audit route. Getting an employer to do one, though…

When I was working I found that only the closest coworkers ever discussed their salaries. It was typically those coworkers who were quite unhappy with their jobs and I always wondered if the discussion was a starting point to ask for more money in the hopes that it would improve their outlook on the jobs they held. You raise an interesting point about the gender gap, but I find it so difficult to compare apples to apples. A man and woman in the same job do not always bring the same experience or knowledge.

Discussing generalities seems like a healthy compromise between not discussing money and providing too much detail.

I’m okay with sharing sweeping generalities, but down to the penny not so much.

That’s interesting. People in your own industry would know what ‘your worth.’ I’ve never thought about it that way, but I do tell people that my career in software development led to my financial success. A social worker, for example, is clearly not going to be in the same situation.

Thanks for the comment. I don’t typically share the details, (unless someone specifically asks), but I do provide general personal finance related advice. That way it’s less about what I have and more about how I can help my friends or family gain greater control of their own money. I think it’s all in the way you present it 🙂

I agree 100% about sharing information with friends and family. I have fallen into similar scenarios where I feel bad about providing details when I know the situations of others are very different from my own. I am often guarded in my responses in order to protect those I love from feeling bad about their own situations.