The intrigue of others’ salaries
Recently there have been a number of articles making the rounds in the media world that either are entirely about or focus heavily on other peoples’ salaries.
Salaries – for average working Americans – are one of the most private pieces of information that we hold true. In some peoples’ lives, however, salaries are very public pieces of information that inform stakeholders to disclose improprieties or proclaim success.
The majority of commentary recently has been about the exorbitant nature of many top CEOs’ pay. BusinessWeek for example, has dedicated several articles and opinion columns to the subject. Other publications such as Forbes seem to only be known by its obsession with the topic by publishing lists of wealthiest individuals and those who hover around or otherwise surpass the sacred billion-dollar mark.
Many in today’s American society are driven by the possibility of eventual riches – often justifying the pain and rigor of misaligned career arrangements in order to reach success, someday, maybe.
When the disclosure of one’s salary is unexpected or otherwise unwanted, however, it sometimes creates a stir.
Take today’s article in the Daily Orange, the student newspaper at Syracuse University, as an example.
S.U. is a private institution, but through tax documents discloses the compensation of its top-paid employees.
At the top, basketball coach Jim Boeheim at $1.07M, a 120 percent increase over the prior year. Next highest is the football coach at more than $1M as well.
From the D.O.:
“I think it was in poor taste that his salary was in the paper,” Fine said. “I don’t think there’s a need for it. His salary has nothing to do with the endless charitable work he does with (the annual) Coaches vs. Cancer (tournament) or the time that goes into it. It’s a year-round job.”
The Chancellor, Nancy Cantor, didn’t show up until a bit further down the list where she reportedly made $572k, a drop from $592k the year prior – perhaps a result of her lackluster performance handling a fallout last year with the nation’s largest and oldest student-run TV station, HillTV (now CitrusTV).
Need to know and desire to know will drive disclosure via both proper and improper channels.
Why do we care? For many reasons, but the most important is likely because we can relate directly and comparatively – often fueling our desire to work harder and do more.
What we’re wondering though, is how life is going to change for the people featured in this New York Times article yesterday, who knowingly chose to let the world know how much they make.
Newsday helped with this post.
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