New York publicist Arielle Green knows what most of her friends earn. And she does not seem particularly shy about disclosing her income — $30,000 a year, plus overtime.
At 22, Green, like her friends, is less afraid to flirt with what many older than 35 years old consider the last taboo in professional life: discussing salaries with friends and colleagues.
“There’s just more of a feeling of openness in discussing what you make,” Green said.
Her friends, she said, consider frank talk about income a valuable tool. It helps them strategize — when to push for a raise, when to start looking around.
“My parents wouldn’t have this conversation with friends,” Green said. For them, “it’s very hush-hush. You don’t talk about money, politics or religion with friends. But in this generation, it’s important.”
For many young professionals, salary information is fair game. Many consider it crucial to prosper in an increasingly transient workplace — regardless of the envy full disclosure can raise. Besides, when the Internet already offers a cornucopia of personal info, it’s almost coy to keep income private.
While salaries may be disclosed casually among friends, that doesn’t mean most young professionals brag about their incomes at cocktail parties. There still is an etiquette to sharing the information — a proper way to divulge.
Most young people don’t tell cubicle mates, according to a 2007 study for Money magazine by the sociologist Jeanne Fleming and the writer Leonard Schwarz.
Still, young workers seem somewhat less likely to adhere to this convention than older ones. The study found that 90 percent of those older than 35 who were surveyed agreed with the statement “you should never let your co-workers know how much you make,” while 84 percent of subjects younger than 35 agreed.
Bill Coleman, the chief compensation officer of salary.com, which tracks income figures for numerous occupations by ZIP code, said the new openness on salaries is reflective of a deeper acceptance of networking, offline as well as online.
“This is a generation that is much more attuned to teamwork, collaboration and sharing information,” he said. “Everything they do is a kind of group event. How do you know, when you get your first job offer, if $45,000 is a good offer, a bad offer or an OK offer? You go to your friends.”
Still, there are good reasons that generations of parents have instructed their children to keep quiet.
“When people talk about money,” said Herb Goldberg, a clinical psychologist in L.A. who has written about financial issues, most people presume there is “a motive behind it, and the motive is what makes it seem impolite.”
People bombarded with unwelcome salary information assume someone is raising the topic to subtly brag, or put someone else down, he said.
But social scientists say some young people have generation-specific motives.
Robert Frank, an economics professor at Cornell, said an open flow of information is crucial to young professionals who think of themselves as free agents.
“People move between jobs a lot more now than they used to,” Frank said. “If you change jobs, that’s news,” Frank said. “If you get a better salary, that’s the explanation of the news: ‘They’re paying me 80 grand, the last place was only paying me 65.’ “
