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- Charlotte Chaze recently sparked conversation by posting her salary history on LinkedIn.
- The tech TikToker said she's uniquely positioned to be transparent about pay as she's self-employed.
- But she cautioned against doing the same, urging people to instead discuss pay with friends and coworkers.
If you have a LinkedIn account, you probably list your previous jobs and employers there. But what about your pay?
That's just what Charlotte Chaze did. Earlier this month, the academic researcher-turned-data analyst and founder of Break Into Tech added her salaries to every prior job listed on her LinkedIn profile.
Her pay runs the gamut: There's the time she made $12 an hour working in quality assurance at McCormick, the $28,000 salary she had as a research assistant, the jump to $70,000 after she made the switch to data analytics, and the $158,000 salary from her job as a senior analytics manager at AT&T.
@charlottechaze Salary transparency on my LinkedIn for every job I've had* *that's worthy enough to be on LinkedIn. I don't have my time at Domino's Pizza, Smoothie King, Cheeburger Cheeburger, Coldstone Creamery, or Chesapeake Bay Candles on there! I actually *don't* recommend doing this yourself. Showing a potential future employer what you currently make could cause them to lowball you! I'm just doing it because I can and it's helpful for others. Use it to your advantage! #salarytransparency #salary #mysalary #pay #work #job #career #greenscreenvideo #paychecks #receipts ♬ original sound - Charlotte • Break Into Tech®
Chaze felt as her own employer, she had both freedom and responsibility to post her salary information.
"I do strongly believe it is on the employer, not the employee, to be transparent about salaries because they're the ones paying the salary," Chaze told Insider. "As someone who is kind of in a gray area with that since I work for my own business, I figured I have this opportunity to be really transparent about this and show people what my entire career looked like — how it got me to where I am now, which is owning my own business all the way from feeling like I had a terrible future with money because I was making 28k and didn't know how it could possibly get much higher than that."
Data has shown pay transparency can help close the wage gap for women and people of color, and cities and states across the US are implementing pay transparency laws. But the taboo around talking money persists. A LinkedIn survey of 4,778 US professionals conducted last June indicated many were still uncomfortable discussing their pay: 55% of Gen Z, 58% of millennials, 62% of Gen X, and 53% of baby boomers surveyed said they'd be willing to disclose their pay to family members, the demographic shown in the survey to be most trusted with that information.
After a Twitter user posted a screenshot of Chaze's updated LinkedIn profile listing her salaries, others weighed in.
"Ballsy move, the guy/gal is a pioneer. The whole transparent salaries discussion is very tricky but I'd love it to be more common. At least with salary ranges," one user said.
"My fear is that it puts folks in a position to want to pay you in relation to what you've been paid previously. Your previous salary should have very little influence in your current salary negotiations. You're worth what they're willing to pay that you can convince them of," another person added.
Chaze agrees that most people shouldn't follow her lead, as potential employers in the future could use their salary history to lowball them in a job offer. In her case, being self-employed allowed her to post her pay without fear of these repercussions.
"I don't recommend that others post their salaries on LinkedIn because it can be held against you when you're applying for your next job," she said.
Instead, she encourages people to be more open discussing their pay with those around them.
"When we share that information with each other, we all benefit from it," she said. "Just seeing what's possible, what your friends, family, and coworkers are making, if you're making less, it shows you that you can make more."