Work in Progress, Worklife, Workplace, TIME

May 2, 2008 11:00

Show me your paystub, I'll show you mine

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | Comments (3) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

In this week's issue of TIME, I presented a modest proposal for the persisting problem of pay inequity. The piece begins:

I have no clue what my colleagues make. I suspect some earn more than I do and others take home less. Like most American workers, I consider my salary my own damn business. Turns out that could be a big mistake--at least in the opinion of a petite grandmother with an Alabama drawl.

The article centers on Lilly Ledbetter, whom you've already read about in this earlier post. When I spoke to her again last week, she was disappointed that her eponymous bill had failed to pass muster in the Senate—but still determined not to let the issue die.

My proposal:

What if employers made all employee salaries known? If you think about it, who is served by all the secrecy? Not you.

Read the article for the full argument. And do buy the issue, why dontcha. It's the TIME 100, you know. And spend some time on Time.com's fabulous web extravaganza. The biggest news: neither Rain nor Stephen Colbert won the Time.com public poll.

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Reader Comments (3)

Lulu Lulu:

You know, there was a bill in Ohio a year or two ago that was put to public vote on this very topic. I was for it for this exact Lily Ledbetter reason. Everyone else I met was against it because they said it meant potential employers would call your last job to get your salary info, and they wouldn't have to give you more than your last job did. I thought that was crazy talk, since you would also know how much everyone else was making and would be in a better position to demand your worth. But I was alone in that thinking. As far as I know, the bill did not pass.

Posted by Lulu Lulu | May 2, 2008 11:18 AM

Rhea:

It's been said that one of the most radical things a person in this culture can do is reveal how much they make. We should all do it! That would reveal critical information and inequities immediately.

Posted by Rhea | May 2, 2008 2:02 PM

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

since i wrote this article, a couple of colleagues have taken me up. i bet if you guys were open w/your salary, others would be, too. but someone's gotta go first.

Posted by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen | May 5, 2008 11:38 AM

About Work In Progress

Nina Subin

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a staff writer for TIME. She blogs about work. Why? Because TV was taken. Think of her as the grumpy colleague ranting by the water cooler.
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lisa_cullen at timemagazine.com