同事之间议论工资好不好

    如今，人们只需要在Facebook上点击几下鼠标，就能看到办公室同事新年出糗的照片或老板豪华度假的细节，个人信息与工作信息之间的界限变得日益模糊。

    虽然人们越来越乐意和同事乃至全世界分享个人信息，但是有一个话题始终属于禁忌范畴——薪水。

    一直以来，人们都认为谈钱会让人感觉不舒服，但也并非是让薪水话题成为私密谈话的社会准则。妇女政策研究协会（the Institute for Women's Policy Research）2011年的一份报告指出，约有一半的美国员工表示，雇主明令禁止或强烈反对他们与同事讨论薪水问题。

    即使讨论薪水不会违反规定，专家仍然告诫人们不要与同事议论薪水标准。职业生涯教练卡林•罗肯德表示，例如，“如果被管理人员发现，这会让人觉得你对工作不满意，导致事与愿违的结果。”

    职业生涯专家卡罗琳•塞尼萨－莱文是《勇猛战胜恐惧：艰难时代的成功秘诀》（How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times）一书的联合作者。她把议论薪水问题比作在办公室约会。“你总能找到适合讨论薪水的理由，”她说。“但是在大多数情况下，结果会很糟糕。所以，要谨慎对待。”

    罗肯德强调，讨论薪水问题通常会引发失望情绪，降低工作满意度。她说：“如果发现同事的薪水比你高，你马上就会觉得自己的工作非常糟糕，当然还有你的老板。” A study by the美国国家经济调查局（the National Bureau of Economic Research）2010年9月公布的一项研究也得出了同样的结论。研究人员随意为加利福尼亚大学（University of California employees）的员工提供访问大学员工薪水信息网站的权限。虽然有些员工发现自己的薪水低于平均水平，从而降低了工作满意度，但是对于那些发现薪水高于平均水平的员工而言，他们的工作满意度并没有得到相应的提高。

    美国Soluna学会创始人、企业行为心理学专家帕梅拉•蒂加登表示，因为许多公司以所谓的“囚徒困境”模式运营，经常出现员工攀比薪水的情况。 “为了谋求晋升和胜利，（同事）之间没有合作，相反，他们不得不相互比较，相互竞争。” 蒂加登认为，对比薪水只会加剧这种状况，削弱团队为了实现目标共同奋斗的能力。为了避免这一问题，她建议雇主重视其他非货币形式的“外在激励因素”，例如鼓励同事成为朋友，重视员工的意见等。

    罗肯德也看重这一非货币形式的方法。“人们认为钱能带来幸福，”罗肯德说。“但是事实恰恰相反。钱不能带来幸福，而幸福的人却能赚更多的钱。”

    In a time where your office mate's embarrassing New Year's photos or the details of your boss's lavish vacation are just a few Facebook clicks away, the lines between personal information and workplace knowledge are getting fuzzier everyday.

    Despite a growing willingness to share private information with colleagues -- and the world -- one topic remains safely nestled in the taboo column: compensation.

    Money talk has long been considered uncouth, but it's not just social norms that have kept such conversations in the dark. According to a 2011 report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research, almost half of all American workers are either expressly prohibited or strongly discouraged by their employers from discussing their pay with coworkers.

    Even when it's not against the rules, experts warn against bringing up the pay scale with people in your office. For one, says career coach Carin Rockind, "if management ever found out, it makes you look dissatisfied and could backfire."

    Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a career expert and co-author of How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times, compares salary talk to dating in the workplace. "You can always find examples where it's a good idea," she says. "But for the most part, it ends badly. So you have to proceed with caution."

    Rockind emphasizes that these conversations usually lead to disappointment and lower job satisfaction. "Should you find out someone is making more money than you, it will immediately make you feel worse about your job and worse about your manager," she says.

    A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research published in September, 2010 reached the same conclusion. The researchers gave a random set of University of California employees access to a website that listed University workers' salary information. While workers who discovered that they made less than average ultimately reported lower job satisfaction, there was no reciprocal increase in reported satisfaction among those who found out that their earnings were above average.

    Pamela Teagarden, founder of the Soluna Institute and an expert in corporate behavioral psychology, says that salary comparison conversations often arise because most workplaces operate in what is known as a "Prisoner's Dilemma." "Rather than cooperating, [colleagues are] forced to compare and compete because everyone is trying for the next promotion, for the win." Comparing salaries only reinforces that dynamic, undermining a team's ability to work together toward a common goal, Teagarden argues. To avoid this problem, Teagarden recommends that companies focus on other, non-monetary, "extrinsic motivators," like encouraging friendship among coworkers and valuing employees' opinions.

    Rockind also emphasizes this non-monetary approach. "There's a belief in our society that money leads to happiness," Rockind says. "But it's actually the other way around: It's not that money leads to happiness, it's that happy people make more money."