Can I ask…how much are you being paid?

I love a conversation that makes me question what I believe - and I just had one.

I have a female mentee starting her career. She’s driven, talented, intelligent. She wanted my guidance – she’d asked a colleague what she was paid. She perceived a little frostiness in the response. Did she do the wrong thing?

With a confident “yes…it was the wrong thing to do” I proceeded to share my views on overstepping boundaries, good manners, professionalism and the rest.

With complete logic and honesty, she responded “but how am I supposed to know if I’m being paid fairly, unless I ask?”

And I stopped.

How often in my career was I paid less because I didn’t know I deserved more? This culture of secrecy around salary is interesting right?

And the law is catching up – I just saw that from June 2023 Pay Secrecy Clauses can’t be included in employment contracts or other written agreements in Australia.

This could get very interesting, very fast.

I wonder how long before the inherent culture of non-transparency changes though – and what will happen when it does? It’s something to think about.