Talking about money in the workplace feels like trying to navigate Joburg traffic during load-shedding: treacherous, uncomfortable, best avoided. Your employer (probably) isn’t a secret supervillain, but they are incentivised to use that discomfort against you, to pay you as little as they can get away with. This leaves many workers with an unsettling question always simmering beneath the surface: am I being exploited? Here are some indications:
1 SALARIES ARE A SECRET
Does your company publish standard pay scales, openly showing the salary ranges of different roles? Or is there a general sense of secrecy around what everyone earns? Here’s a fact that your employer will never tell you: By law, your employer cannot stop you from discussing your salary. If your workplace insinuates that talking about your salary will be punished, that’s a sign that there’s something to hide.
