A woman who shared all of her previous salaries on LinkedIn has been praised by job-seekers for her contribution to salary transparency.
Charlotte Chaze, founder of Break Into Tech, posted her pay history on LinkedIn for her connections to see. She then took to TikTok to explain why she decided to openly admit how much she made in every position she’s held.
In her 5 July post, Chaze announced that she had added the salary for each job, from unpaid to hourly, so she could do “do her part to make salary transparency happen”.
The business owner noted that her salaries started at $29,000 and rose yearly before jumping to $158,000 six jobs later. “I know this won’t catch on LinkedIn, but if it did...” she added at the end. However, her caption contradicted the statement, as she then advised her followers against following her lead.
“I actually *don’t* recommend doing this yourself. Showing a potential future employer what you currently make could cause them to lowball you,” Chaze confessed. “I’m just doing it because I can and it’s helpful for others. Use it to your advantage!”
In the comments, viewers praised Chaze for the transparency while taking the opportunity to share their frustrations when it comes to companies refusing to disclose pay with potential employees. “I just wish job listings at least list a salary range. Too many have absolutely no info,” one person commented.
“Making a jump from $28,000 to $70,000 is impressive and this is the hope and inspiration I needed to see today,” another person wrote, while someone else said: “Salary transparency is so important.”
“Wow. I love this level of transparency,” another viewer said.
However, not everyone agreed with Chaze’s method, as some argued that it may hinder prospective employees, like the TikToker had acknowledged in the caption of her video.
“The other side is employers using your current and past salary to lowball your new salary if it’s a jump in pay,” one viewer said, while another pointed out: “Yeah, that’s great so now every company will lowball you when giving job offers.”
Someone else advised against the tactic, writing: “Please don’t do this,” to which Chaze responded: “Agreed, as I stated in the caption.”
Speaking to Buzzfeed, Chaze further explained her intentions in wanting to show people how their salary could possibly be greater than a company is leading on. “I shared my salaries because I wanted to show my personal example of going from $28,000 to $70,000 in one job change, and then to $158,000 just a few years later,” she said. “When I was making a low salary, I never thought I’d make it to six figures, so I broke down all the salaries I made along the way to show how it can be done, even if you’re starting really low. It’s all about showing people what’s possible as motivation to go for what you deserve.”
Chaze also acknowledged her “privilege” in being able to share her earnings on the internet for anyone to see. According to haze, because she is a business owner now, she does not need to worry about being “law-balled by a future employer”.
“The recruiters and hiring managers who have weighed in seem to agree with that idea overall, although some have suggested that your current and previous salaries shouldn’t matter when you apply for a new job. I think we all agree on that, which is why I don’t recommend that most people post their salaries,” she added.
Though Chaze is doing what she can in the fight towards salary transparency, she believes employers and their recruiters should be the ones to do so to help minimise income gaps in gender and race.
“When employees don’t know what everyone is making, the rich white cis male CEOs named John win. They can pay Ariana $20,000 less than she deserves (and $10,000 less than Chad) because no one taught her that she needs to ask for the salary range in the first interview and negotiate when she gets the offer,” the tech mogul said.
“Even Chad is making less than he deserves because the company has spent hundreds of thousands on research to determine the lowest possible salaries they can get away with offering: salaries that are high enough to convince the new hires to accept their offers, but low enough that the CEO can get another $1m bonus this year,” she continued. “Salary transparency might feel like a taboo topic, but companies are already talking about our salaries behind closed doors. Let’s continue that conversation with the doors open so everyone can participate.”
As for her biggest piece of advice to individuals in the workforce, Chaze told Buzzfeed it is to “learn in-demand career skill and job hop,” before noting that the biggest roadblock in your career advancement can also be yourself sometimes.
“The hard part isn’t learning the skills, it’s believing you can do it. Once you get past doubting yourself, learning the skills is something anyone can do. Get started and don’t stop until you get your job offer, because you only need one offer and you’re in,” Chaze said.
Salary transparency laws have been enacted in a handful of states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, Illinois and Colorado. The legislation means that 26.6 per cent of the US labour force is now covered by pay range transparency laws, according to the National Women’s Law Center, which notes that pay transparency laws have been consistently linked to narrowed gender wage gaps.
The Independent has contacted Chaze for comment.
