How pay transparency is breaking down the taboo of talking about your salary

"How overmuch bash you make?"

The once-taboo question is becoming progressively common, arsenic much workers propulsion to normalize wage transparency — oregon unfastened conversations astir wage — successful an effort to adjacent sex and radical wage gaps.

It's popping up connected societal media sites similar Instagram, wherever accounts similar Salary Transparent Street diagnostic interviews with young consultants, teachers oregon nurses, readily sharing with strangers however overmuch they make.

The conception is besides being embraced by immoderate companies and governments, with a fig of jurisdictions introducing wage transparency laws, including successful Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

The drive to adjacent the sex wage spread adjacent has its ain day, International Equal Pay Day, which is being marked globally connected Monday.

Advocates accidental wage transparency tin assistance the veil connected however radical doing the nonstop aforesaid occupation tin beryllium paid rather differently, with the extremity of levelling the playing field.

According to Statistics Canada, successful 2021, pistillate employees aged 25 to 54 earned 89 cents for each dollar earned by men, with notable wage gaps for racialized and Indigenous people, too. 

That worked retired to women earning $3.79 little per hour, connected average, than their antheral counterparts.

Ultimately, experts say, wage transparency benefits workers by giving them much accusation to commencement the speech astir compensation, and to bolster bargaining powerfulness during negotiations. 

A fewer years ago, erstwhile Toronto-based fiscal advisor and talker Jessica Moorhouse was leaving the instrumentality steadfast she had been moving astatine for astir 3 years, she took immoderate of her colleagues for lunch. Knowing she had thing to lose, she asked astir their salaries — and recovered retired immoderate were making arsenic overmuch arsenic $10,000 much than she had been.

"When I heard immoderate of the numbers, astatine archetypal I went inward, and thought possibly I'd done thing incorrect to not merit higher pay. But I realized it wasn't me, it was enactment politics," she told CBC News.

In Canada, the national government's Pay Equity Act went into effect successful 2021, requiring each employers successful federally regulated sectors with 10 oregon much employees to place and close wage disparities.

Last year, P.E.I. amended its Employment Standards Act to necessitate employers to see salaries connected each nationalist occupation postings. And Ontario had introduced its Pay Transparency Act successful 2018 nether the erstwhile Liberal government, with akin requirements regarding wage scope disclosure, though it was shelved nether the existent government.

The astir caller state to articulation the premix is British Columbia, location to 1 of the widest gender-based wage gaps successful the state — 17 per cent successful 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

Its Pay Transparency Act, known arsenic Bill 13, passed connected May 11. Early phases of the authorities prohibit employers from asking occupation applicants astir wage past and employees can't beryllium punished for talking astir salary.

The adjacent signifier comes into effect connected Nov. 1, requiring employers to disclose the expected wage ranges connected each advertised jobs. A fig of provincial agencies volition besides request to record and publically station wage transparency reports starting this twelvemonth — a rolling request that volition spot each B.C. employers with 50 oregon much employees providing that information by November 2026.

"Not having wage equity [in the province] is perfectly crucial," said Marjorie Cohen, an economist and prof of governmental subject astatine Simon Fraser University successful Burnaby, B.C.

"This is an NDP government; they're a small spot embarrassed by the information that they person specified a wide sex wage gap. So what they did was to enactment guardant wage transparency."

Who gets the powerfulness successful wage negotiations?

Tammy Schirle, a prof of economics astatine Wilfrid Laurier University successful Waterloo, Ont., calls wage transparency a immense necessity for galore workers. 

"In the backstage sector, everyone is having to negociate their wages themselves, particularly successful non-union environments — and that's wherever these discrepancies travel in," she said.

The sex wage spread is sometimes linked to differences successful the mode successful which women attack negotiating, experts say, noting that women thin to not inquire for more. By making salaries visible, immoderate disparity tin beryllium much easy spotted, allowing women and others to amended negociate upfront.

"I got my past firm job, and I past got into that regular of ne'er negotiating, due to the fact that that was ne'er connected the table," Moorhouse said. "Never adjacent considering that that was thing that I should do."

WATCH | The increasing propulsion for companies to disclose salaries: 

While wage transparency policies tin assistance interruption down the taboo of talking astir and negotiating salaries, it doesn't ever alteration for the better, according to the U.S. research.

A survey first published successful 2021 recovered wage transparency mightiness really bounds the idiosyncratic bargaining powerfulness of employees, arsenic employers whitethorn garbage to summation wages to debar the fallout of having different unit inquire to renegotiate their salaries. 

That means arsenic granting raises becomes much costly for the employer, the leader becomes little apt to prosecute successful bargaining, the researchers found.

Others person criticized wage transparency policies for falling abbreviated of the eventual goal — wage equity — arsenic they often don't compel companies to destruct discrepancies.

"They're relying connected nationalist shame," said Cohen. "And I privation to archer you erstwhile radical discriminate, they're not shamed by that."

Can it beryllium a win-win for companies?

Evenings & Weekends Consulting is 1 institution that has embraced wage transparency, with co-CEO Paul Taylor saying helium shares the firm's wage grid with his staff. He plans to soon marque it disposable connected his company's website, too. His steadfast besides works with charities to marque wage transparency a halfway portion of their workplace culture.

Pay transparency tin amended civilization by gathering spot betwixt some the leader and employee, and betwixt unit members, Taylor says.

He recalls however 1 day, 1 of his employees saw the wage grid connected the level wherever helium communicates with his team. They panicked, helium said, reasoning they had stumbled crossed confidential information.

"They reached retired to idiosyncratic and said, 'Oh my goodness … is this an error?'" helium said. "Transparency is 1 of the ways that we really are gathering … a squad that's based connected spot and accountability."

Taylor says his acquisition arsenic an anti-poverty activistic has besides influenced his presumption connected enactment and his work arsenic an employer; he realized that wage secrecy tin be a instrumentality immoderate employers usage to create precarious traps that definite number groups are much apt to autumn into.

"For racialized folks, peculiarly for women, I deliberation the secrecy astir wage and wages has truly lone served employers and capitalism," helium said.

LISTEN | Can openly sharing our salaries actually alteration what we get paid?