Salary
By weepinwillow
@weepinwillow (107)
Philippines
March 10, 2009 6:11am CST
I was talking with my French students, I teach them English, and these students of mine are mostly professionals and are in high positions in their respective companies, and they tell me that in the French culture they never talk about their salaries, not even to close friends or even parents. They never tell anyone about how much theyget except to their spouses. Which is very different with some Americans I know and people from Asia.
Do you think it's okay to talk about how much your salary is to other people, or is it taboo?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
11 Mar 09
Actually in Singapore, especially for Singapore Chinese, we dont normally reveal our salaries, except for those times when we need to apply for bank loan, then all documents must be presented. It's a very sensitive topic and normally not even a comfortable topic to discuss within the household.
Actually up to a certain level, salary is a meaningless figure. For those companies with share option, employees can earn much more from selling shares at the right time. Management staff fight for share option rather than increment in salary.
@weepinwillow (107)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
Is there a particular reason why salary is such a sensitive topic in your place?
@oyenkai (4394)
• Philippines
17 Mar 09
Actually, it is also rude here in the Philippines to ask someone how much he/she makes. We keep it a secret for privacy :)
We don't like talking about our salaries because in a materialistic world, it can be easily used to judge a person's "worth" based on what he/she can and cannot afford. I think it would be better if we kept our salaries to ourselves - knowing other people's salaries does not really contribute to anything good so why bother? It might just leave the person embarrassed.
Thanks for the response on my discussion!
@underdogtoo (9579)
• Philippines
15 Mar 09
I would talk about salary to people who care about salary. I would not pry and ask them about salaries if they are not comfortable with it because of some reason. Cheers!!
