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Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

nytimes.com

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Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#21

Post by pg_is_a_butt »

siculars wrote: post #12

This. Negotiating a compensation package, in general, is asymmetric information warfare. Having to reveal your salary history you may as well not even negotiate. I know so many women who are constantly bit by this and negotiating in general. Here's an idea: compensation agents who negotiate the compensation package on your behalf. Athletes and actors have them, why not everyone else?

because an athlete giving up 20% for someone who will fight for millions of dollars more is a lot different than janice in accounting giving up 20% to get the bump from $52,000 to $70,000.

you're all idiots.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#22

Post by jbooth »

mackal wrote: post #13
dudul wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You got downvoted probably mostly for the form of your comment, but you're not wrong IMO. I wish MA would look into banning over-the-top non competes, and revisit the default IP regulation.

They are also wrong since MA still has one of the tech centers in the US... I do agree that banning non-competes would be good.

There's probably something to the fact that it's biotech first, government contractor tech second and software startups third, though. Those employer-friendly and IP-friendly laws work a lot better for biotech's long product cycles and government contractors.. whatever it is about them.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#24

Post by IThoughtYouGNU »

dudul wrote: post #14
inlined wrote: post #10

Candidates "may" offer this information upfront? I feel like I'm watching Office Space "Am I supposed to tell you my salary before even hearing your initial offer?" "Some employees choose to offer salary information, and we encourage that"

"We want you to join us for the mission, not for the money. Be a team player and share your salary with us!"

It makes me sad how accurate this is.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#25

Post by patrickmay »

siculars wrote: post #12

This. Negotiating a compensation package, in general, is asymmetric information warfare. Having to reveal your salary history you may as well not even negotiate. I know so many women who are constantly bit by this and negotiating in general. Here's an idea: compensation agents who negotiate the compensation package on your behalf. Athletes and actors have them, why not everyone else?

> Athletes and actors have them, why not everyone else?

It's a simple matter of supply and demand: https://medium.freecodecamp.com/why-talent-agents-for-engine...

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#26

Post by gohrt »

siculars wrote: post #12

This. Negotiating a compensation package, in general, is asymmetric information warfare. Having to reveal your salary history you may as well not even negotiate. I know so many women who are constantly bit by this and negotiating in general. Here's an idea: compensation agents who negotiate the compensation package on your behalf. Athletes and actors have them, why not everyone else?

> why not everyone else?

because you haven't built a startup to do it yet, and Gayle McDowell hasn't figured out how do it yet.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#28

Post by duaneb »

markonthewall wrote: post #11

I love the US and California, the tech scene is amazing and I was lucky to met such talented and friendly people in about every place I worked... from very large tech cos to "garage" startups. Which is why it pains me to see that so many engineers get stuck with such ridiculous salaries (relative to the value and wealth they provide and create). Problem is that some salaries are seemingly high compared to what the av…

Developers are just another means—we're not wizards. We are a commodity, and if you don't recognize that you're in for a hard midlife crisis. Do you really expect to make any money without taking the risk of deciding what to build? How it's constructed is a (admittedly time-consuming and distracting) detail—only a small aspect of the company's value.

Risk and comfort are tradeoffs. If you want to live without risk, you'll have to be satisfied with whatever salary you can negotiate as a commodity.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#29

Post by euphoria83 »

This is so needed in California. My past personal experience and my friends' experience in the Bay Area shows how hard the recruiters can push for the current salary. What they are saying is that we will give you a 10% raise from your current salary, but not what you and we can agree on is your market price. This is so against letting the markets figure it out.

Re: Massachusetts Bans Employers from Asking Applicants About Previous Pay

#30

Post by gjkood »

markonthewall wrote: post #11

I love the US and California, the tech scene is amazing and I was lucky to met such talented and friendly people in about every place I worked... from very large tech cos to "garage" startups. Which is why it pains me to see that so many engineers get stuck with such ridiculous salaries (relative to the value and wealth they provide and create). Problem is that some salaries are seemingly high compared to what the av…

There's a common saying "Nobody ever gets rich working for someone else". I am not sure how much that is backed up by any statistics but the Bay Area and employees of unicorns or Google/Apple/Amazon/Microsoft/... may be outliers to this adage.

Anyway the point I am trying to make is that as an engineer you either have the choice of working for an employer and living an albeit comfortable life (without any risk) or going it alone or starting your own venture with all its associated risk/reward profile.

You have already indicated that you believe in this adage and took the necessary steps to increasing your worth and would continue to take the same approach in future.

What somebody is worth is what the market is willing to pay for them either in salary or by investing in their venture.

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