Discussing Salary with Colleagues in the UK: Is it a Good Idea and Is it Legal?

Money can be a touchy subject in the UK. It’s often considered impolite, or even downright rude, to discuss your salary or wealth with colleagues, friends and family. Considering how much we are encouraged to talk about other personal areas of our life, such as mental health struggles, it’s somewhat strange that talking about money is still something that is considered taboo.

But is this in your best interests as someone looking to increase their earning power and increase their wealth? In today’s article I’m going to explain whether discussing salary with colleagues is legal, and whether or not it’s in your best interests to do it.

Is Talking About Your Salary with Colleagues Legal?

The short answer to this question is yes, it is legal to talk to your coworkers or colleagues about your salary. Since the introduction of the Equality Act in 2010, you have the right as an employee to discuss salary. This means that your employer has no legal standing to stop you talking about what you earn, with anyone you work with.

With that said, your employer can suggest that you don’t discuss your salary and they can stop you from talking about it during working hours. Even if there is a clause in your contract stating that you aren’t allowed to discuss your salary with coworkers, this clause can’t be legally enforced due to the Equality Act 2010.

If your employer disciplines you or threatens to discipline or fire you for discussing your pay, it's important to understand your legal footing. If you work for a large company, they will have a HR department you can raise your concerns with. If you need advice from elsewhere or you’re not satisfied with the response, ACAS is a government organisation that can assist with fair work issues like this.

Should You Discuss Pay with Coworkers?

Ok so we’ve established that legally you can discuss your pay with your colleagues and coworkers, but should you do it? Money is still a big taboo in today’s society, especially here in the UK. Whilst we are all becoming more open about our mental health, our home life and even our sexuality, we are still very wary when it comes to talking about money.

I’m not a psychologist so I’m not going to pretend to know why this is, but I think it’s important to consider the potential benefits and the potential downsides of talking about your salary with your coworkers.

The Risks of Discussing Pay with Colleagues

The main risk when it comes to discussing your salary with your colleagues is the way they will react to you and treat you going forward. This is particularly the case if you find out that you’re earning significantly more than them for doing the same job. In the long run, this is very useful information for them to have, but in the short term it may lead to jealousy or resentment that could be wrongly directed towards you.

This tension could create a more strained or difficult working relationship, particularly if you work closely or share tasks or projects. For example, your colleagues may feel like you have the responsibility to contribute more to a group task as you are being paid more, even if that isn’t how the task has been allocated by your manager.

Because of this risk, it’s important to go into the conversation with the understanding that you are doing it to help each other. It should be an opportunity to support one another and ensure that you are being treated fairly, rather than providing the opportunity to sour a working relationship. Any anger or annoyance should be directed to the people who agreed to the pay discrepancy, not the one receiving it!

Another risk is that your colleague may not be 100% truthful about their pay. This could be through them not wanting to be embarrassed by a pay difference or wanting to show off, but it could also simply be through misunderstanding their compensation. For example, you could tell them a figure that is your net pay after tax, and they could tell you their gross pay before tax. If you have different parts to your compensation package, such as a car allowance or a bonus structure, this could complicate things as well.

As before, the key to this is to be clear and deliberate in your communications to make sure everyone is on the same page.

The Benefits of Discussing Pay with Colleagues

If you have a coworker or a group of coworkers who you trust, discussing your pay can be a very positive strategy for increasing yours. Put very simply, understanding what other staff members in your organisation are being paid allows you to assess whether you are being paid fairly for your job, and whether seeking promotion or advancement in the company is worthwhile.

For example, if you find out that there are multiple staff with the same role and responsibilities as you, who are paid more than you, this is information that can provide you with much greater leverage and confidence in future pay reviews. It can also allow you to understand where your organisation sits within the industry as a whole. 

Not only does it help in assessing your fair compensation in your current role, but it can also give an insight into your future career prospects. After all, there is no point putting in years of hard work to get a promotion into a position that you find doesn’t even pay much more than where you were before. Again, the more you understand the pay structure in the business, the better you can weigh up your decisions as to whether it is worth pushing for that promotion or working the extra hours.

Should You Discuss Your Salary With Your Coworkers

I think we should. Generally, we have to make decisions and negotiations around pay with information that is hard to find, inconsistent and lacking in transparency. The more information you can gather, the better your negotiating and decision making will be.

When it comes to generating wealth, your income is one of, if not the biggest factor in how quickly you achieve that. Employers don’t encourage transparency around pay because it removes their bargaining power when it comes to employing new people or conducting pay reviews.

Make no mistake, a businesses main aim is to pay you as little as they can get away with.

Transparency and open sharing of information should never be discouraged, and the more information we share with each other the fairer environment we will all be in. There is a reason why the legislation that protects employees rights to discuss pay was included in the Equality Act 2010. Because secrecy and closed door policies create inequality, and allow people to be taken advantage of.

Increasing your pay as never been so important, with inflation in the UK at record levels. So don’t be shy, next time the topic of pay comes up in a conversation with a work mate, ask them if they want to share, to make sure you’re both getting the best deal possible!