I recently joined a new firm and my colleague asked me how much they offered me? I gave him the numbers. When I asked him, he was super vague and didnt tell me how much he made.
I was trying to make friends at the new place so I didn't try to create unnecessary tension by refusing to answer but it left me somewhat pissed that he didn't share his own numbers.
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Ah, the old compensation tango! It's a classic scenario in the jungle of finance. Here's a little wisdom from the WSO vines:
Privacy is Key: It's perfectly normal to want to keep your compensation details private. If you're not comfortable sharing, you can always deflect with humor or change the subject.
Professional Boundaries: It's important to set professional boundaries early on. You can be friendly without sharing everything. A simple "I'd rather not say" or "Let's just say I'm happy with the offer" can suffice.
Reciprocity Expectation: If you do share, it's natural to expect the other person to reciprocate. But remember, not everyone plays by the same rules, and in the finance world, compensation can be a sensitive topic.
Future Interactions: Next time you're asked, you might consider a response like, "I'm focused on the value I can add to the team rather than the numbers," to keep things vague yet positive.
Learning Experience: Take this as a learning opportunity. In the future, you might want to keep your cards closer to your chest until you understand the company culture better.
Remember, it's all about swinging through the trees with grace. You want to build relationships, but not at the expense of your personal comfort or professional standards. Keep swinging, and you'll find the right balance!
Sources: What do you say when recruiters ask "What is your current comp?", How to Respond to Question in Bonus Communication ("What's Your Reaction to That?"), PE associate comp, Okay so I've got an offer. Now how to negotiate a higher offer?
You shouldn't have told him
This is on your co-worker for putting you in an awkward position. I am a big believer in salary transparency, but I know not all of my colleagues are the same. While I would never ask someone else what their base / bonus is, if someone else started that conversation I would engage and speak candidly.
However, it is borderline weird to ask a new hire what their comp is unless you already have developed a close relationship / friendship.
There is logic in disclosing / not disclosing your comp, and I understand why you felt obligated to speak honestly. Regardless, you shouldn't be asking yourself what you should have said, but why is this employee asking a new hire what hes being comped? Honestly, I bet whoever asked you feels hes being underpaid and you confirmed it for him, so hes probably a bit grateful, but more immediately, annoyed at the validation that he is being undercompensated.
I'm assuming this was a frustrated employee that didn't get a pay raise to expectation and then found out the OP probably was making the same as they were. Meaning no increase for YOE at the company. My old consulting firm freaked out once someone start a transparent list at the end of the year and people saw what others were making. Aka they told employees we are giving you this amazing bonus aka it was just increasing their base to compare to the mid year hires. A ton of people left the firm right around the time the internal report was released.
Bam now they have a policy for how they pay and increase wages and pay bands
Is it just me or is Gen-z way too comfortable talking about comp? I'm part of gen z group too, and the convo on comps is kinda normalized more than I would like it to be or maybe I'm just too private lol
It is quite true. But there are some who ask first and are secretive when it’s their turn to answer.
Our MFin class (probably most of the oldest Gen Z’s) was pretty chill with sharing numbers as offers rolled.
I think an open discussion is quite healthy.
While could be frustrating in the short term if you realize you’re underpaid, it ensures people get the market rate. Like if your friends are going to different places out of school, you have multiple data points to negotiate during your interview and you know if a certain firm underpays.
The comp secrecy was designed by the corporations to keep the workers underpaid.
I struggle to understand how it’s anyone’s business to know what a new hires comp is
But people should generally have an idea about base salaries at analyst to vp level, as pay seems fairly similar at most places
I find it absolutely crazy that people don’t share base/bonus numbers.
By not doing so, you are effectively hurting yourselves as corporate employees.
Sort of reminds me of the prisoners dilemma where everyone has to buy in for each others benefit, at the risk of one bad apple ruining it for everyone.
Absolutely no proof whatsoever that transparency would benefit the employees, and you can make just as much a case otherwise that it would harm ability to negotiate and earn more.
Pay discrepancies for similar titles are completely fine. Positions operate typically within pay bands, and even if the responsibilities are similar - people can come with different experience, abilities, etc. that the employer may value. It is on the employee, not the employer, to ensure they are getting paid what they want.
With complete salary transparency, these bands would in all likelihood tighten or become non-existent. You'd be naive to think that wouldn't result in a significant amount of people now being compensated less, and also impacting their ability to make more elsewhere because there would be less room to negotiate.
Fair or not we are in a society of comparisons. Salary and money is usually tabboo not because of some nefarious plot to have workers pitted against one another, but because social etiquette realizes that it's an issue many will be sensitive about, and a colleague making significantly more money will likely make you feel worse as a result. It could be an absolute culture killer.
Again, just my own speculation. But I'd personally put this into the 'sounds good, doesnt work' list of programs that always hurt the people they mean to help
While I agree with much of what you've said above, this "dog eat dog" mentality when you are an employee working for a corporation benefits the corporation MORE than the individual. Why wouldn't tightening salary bands put pressure on employers to pay their employees more, especially in a world where you can EASILY compare to others both at your own firm and other firms?
The bonus/comp surveys are popular because of what I've just mentioned - it provides people reference points, and yes - it fosters unhappiness amongst underpaid individuals who either 1) push for higher pay or 2) seek opportunities where they will get paid more.
Wouldn't you like to know if you're getting underpaid (and therefore undervalued) so you can explore more lucrative opportunities?
I worked at one company where the policy was to fire people who disclosed their salary to coworkers. It really differs by firm.
This sort of proves my point - firing inherently means that the offense was a bad/negative situation for the corporation. If sharing comp amongst employees leads to firing, then sharing comp is bad for the firm (and therefore good for the employees).
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