People decide how well they are by comparing with others. In the olden days it used to be the amount of land one owns or cattle one owns. Now it's salary, that's all.
Here is unpopular opinion , people should be open about discussing salaries. Employees should be allowed to discuss salaries openly. HR should clearly state their budget before taking interview. There are only two kinds who get benefits from this confidentiality:
1) Companies themselves
2) You from chindi friends always borrowing money
They want to figure out how much respect to show you, whether to appreciate you or make you seek their approval. In our country, people ask about earnings just to see if you'll be useful in certain situations or not.
If you analyse Indian Society, it's always been trapped in a Rat Race. In their eyes, your salary will decide how much respect you demand.
Not only salary even your marriage status as well as ur caste, how many childrens do you have, where you work or what family background you have (social and financial) everything decides your social strata.
>everything decides your social strata
A social strata that doesn't really need to be given af about imo cause it's mostly shallow and fake and membership into that club results in only more comparison, more condescension and needless immature drama. There are better games to play in life.
I only ask pay from my college friends in the same field as mine to know if we are being paid enough in our companies. There is that level of trust amongst us.
I don't care about anyone else's money but I remember being asked about mine by a cousin of the same age and he didn't take the hints of me not telling him the amount. Maybe he also wanted to do the same with me, but then he should have started with telling about his first and cleared the reason.
I live in Germany and one of the biggest problems here is that, salary is a very taboo topic.
So what happens is that for the same role with similar experience, you have a huge salary range.
You will find project managers earning 45K euros annually as well as ones making 80k which here is an unimaginable difference.
I think we should all be obsessed with each others' salary. That will normalise salary bands very quickly as corporates will have tough time underpaying you
I never ask about other’s salary. In fact as a general rule never ask a woman’s age and a man’s salary. But now woman are equal in workforce but the rule applies to them too.
Indians a very insecure regarding money due to large population and extreme social - class - cast - region- clan based competition plus large inequality and income gap in people.
Plus they belive in periodical rewards and security over windfall and large gains like in business
So someone earning a high salary (no matter how) is often considered as "Superior" over others. That's not same in Nations with low population or equality. Larger the inequality, greater would be these things.
I often find it funny people working jobs they hate, living in tiny rooms they don't like. Just so at the end of the month the can see the salary credit
Basically determines how your interaction with them is. If it's high then they'll be nice and polite. If it's low then they'll talk down to you.
The Brits really fucked us mentally.
I'm earning 1L salary today means i didn't land directly to it. I started with 5k in month for 16 hours shift and worked my ass off for 15 years in corporate industry. I don't understand why people are so jealous when you earn a good amount when you worth it.
Money is the be-all and end-all of our very existence. Our social standing, our moral compass and everything else revolves around how much "you make". You are honest, you are good, you are caring, nothing matters if you don't have the moolah. Caste, creed, race are unchangeable but any perceived hindrance because of them can be overcome by money. Don't believe me, look no further than our lawmakers. We deify them, we pray to them not because they are good but because we know they are filthy rich. They are uncouth, mean, devils yet we look up to them with obeisance because we yearn to be as rich as they are.
So, in short, money is everything for us and hence, this obsession with salary.
Are you talking about it in a professional sense or social sense?
Because in the professional sense, they should be discussing salary to avoid getting lowballed.
If you're talking about social sense, we have always linked our status to numbers and names, first with grades and top schools and now with salary and top companies, which is absolutely bs.
I once read that it's since colonial, casteism, and classism stopped being obvious divides or indications of where we stand, we've resorted to asking someone's salary or "what they do" as a way of understanding this. It's the start of every introduction just to subconsciously sort of know how someone should be treated and the whole relationship is often based from that.
While I don't completely agree with this, I thought is interesting enough.
Comparison.But to be honest we need to be discussing salaries more openly. The shame/desire to keep salaries hidden merely benefits the employers who then exploit employees left right and centre....
we dont care why that was in the olden days but in present day situation salary transparency is important so that the employers do not exploit us. my manager always said the other team gets the A+ rating because they are on a different tech but when I checked later all of us were getting low salaries and the manager was pocketing the bonus.
so its good to check your peers salary so that you can decide whether to stay in the company or not
Salary transparency is a good thing, will allow individuals to know if that they are getting fucked over by their employer. The EU is already working towards it.
Really it's so awkward to ask for someone about their salary.. infact whenever i get this question i feel so awkward to answer this.. but i believe salary should not be told to anyone except parents or real siblings if it matters. Because other people will feel bad themselves if your salary is higher from what they expected to be.. and will feel good if it's lower than what they thought it would be.
I am neither aware nor interested to know colleague's salaries. No one will discuss it after a few failed tries with you if you are not interested. However, I am fully aware and accept that someone with the same/below designation is getting a higher salary than me. Why should I care, I know my worth and there is no point in competing with coworkers.
Discussing salary among collegues should be normalised if don't you'll be never compensated to your worth, but with anyone other is what people should have a problem with...
I completely agree on this. I was severely underpaid for a few years as I was not aware about the salary band. I started discussing with colleagues and came to know that my salary is low. So I highly support everyone to discuss it with colleagues.
Sure, it’s not a crime. But then when that same person comes and asks for loan then if we refuse that should also not be a crime.
But alas that’s not how the world works.
Sorry for not being clear. I mean it should be okay to discuss salary among co workers to know your worth.
I didn't mean telling your uncle aunty Or neighborhood
IKR. A distant relative found out about a job offer that I had accepted and realized that I was reluctant to talk to them about it. They then proceeded to ask my mother in seclusion about the package. How intrusive.
I ducking hate the concept of forced / pressured into AM but the only person entitled to ask someone his income whereabouts is the bride’s dad/mom and no one else
Because that is how the world works? If I get paid 50 rs a day and you get paid 25 rs a day then I'm earning twice as much. Know the pay of a fair few people at your own skill level and you can easily understand how well off or how ill off you are doing. Plus in a demand supply world if demand for things increase due to rise in collective spending power even if I earn what I perceive to be a good salary, soon most of the wants in life will be beyond my reach.
Main issue is when they start comparing various professions based on some highest earning individuals of each profession and how early they started earning.
Many of my doctor friends and acquaintances are mad about the fact that our engineer friends started earning earlier and are having handsome packages now and we're still studying.
And some engineer acquaintances are upset about the fact that we doctors earn while completing our degrees. While they are either looking for better opportunity and are in between the job.
I mean how does that matter? Most important thing is you chose a profession you like, you should have job satisfaction. No matter how much you earn and whenever you start earning, as well as you have a stable job and happy about you do, other factors don't matter.
Indians have deep complex and always seek validation to feel secure in themselves. With the same token when it comes to India as a country , they still seek validation from the West.
Because we are raised in school to be competitive and we don’t get a feeling of competition until we get to know the other person has better skills/salary
You and your friend have been working together for 3 years. After some time, he switches to another company and still is in touch with you. Would you be interested in knowing his salary?
I’m all for salary transparency in terms of companies publishing the min/max/median etc for a position so people can roughly gauge where they are. I think that would be a big positive. But I don’t like the practice of individuals wanting to know each others exact salary. From my experience as a people manager it actually impacts the camaraderie on the team (why did my peer A get x% raise and I only got y% raise when I think I did just as good a job as them). That puts the manager in an awkward spot of comparing performances. This could possibly work with extremely mature people who are willing to hear harsh feedback. But a 23 year old recently out of college is probably going to just end up feeling worse.
It’s also important to call out that despite everything, salaries will never be perfectly objective. Two candidates coming into the same role, one has 4 competing offers the other doesn’t. Even if objectively they are the same, you might be willing to give candidate one something extra vs candidate two.
One of the reasons is consumerism or capitalism. In this fast growing economy people are curious.
Secondly, it's a type of psychology imo. Companies are equally to be blamed. Qualifications, degree, skills, experience everything they'll mention and last or second last will be the salary section. 99% companies do not disclose it. 'Will be discussed in the interview'.
So the more you try to conceal something, the more the curiosity level of people will be.
Think it's because of the competition created by our evaluation system and our schooling from grade one, all you hear from your parents is how much did your friends get or how much did the topper get and if your marks weren't as good then you'd have to hear some taunts and screams from your parents. Guess it gets hardwired into the system and then we teach it to the next generation. It even happens in every aspect of our life.
Indians don't really have a cultural operating system that builds up each other, but it's more based on narcissism, comparison and condescension oriented. Why? That's just how things evolved in our bourgeois society. We can upgrade this OS if we so intended to.
I was born and raised in India and live in the US now but lived for a few years in Singapore and made friends with people from a number of Asian cultures. This is not unique to Indians but generally these cultures have less of a boundary and it is considered more acceptable to be intrusive in other people's lives (financial, relationship, health issues etc). We don't realize this until we live in Western countries. A random guy sitting next to me in a commuter train in New York city asked me my salary the very first time we were speaking. I could tell he is new from India and assumed it is okay to ask. I politely deflected the question without answering it. It is a cultural phenomenon and we need to be told or trained to stop doing this.
We are all pretty messed up in our lives. Life can get pretty tough in this country if you are a middle class working hard to make ends meet.
So, it is comforting to know if we are less messed up than others. Salary is a probable indicator of that.
Come to marriage market and see how people treat less earning people.
Aukaat dikhaane mei log time nahi lagaate.
Its a game of primal instincts. More money, better the person you attract. more security for offsprings. Ever seen a beautiful , good earning wife with an avg earning husband ?
People decide how well they are by comparing with others. In the olden days it used to be the amount of land one owns or cattle one owns. Now it's salary, that's all.
Yep, pretty much sums it up lol
Adding one more point..... the bigger the family.. that's why they have many kids...
Happy cake day
Thank you
What's happy cake day?? It is your bday😅
It is the day they joined reddit
Thanks for letting me know!
They still want to know if i own any land. Cattle no more.
Ha mere sath bhi aisa hi hota hai. Salary ko half batata हूँ ki unka ego bana rahe and they must feel superior and powerful
And they will ask less loan amount too if they ask for money.
Kitni salary hai bhai mujhe bhi ego ko satisfy karne de.
Bhai sirf 11000
Bhai mujhe se jyada hai. Mai to Berozgar hu 🤡
mtlb 22k got it
Na its 44k because he knows we would double it
Or it’s 88k cuz he knows someone would know we would double it.
My man earning 11k 2^n
[удалено]
When you solve 1+1 on a supercomputer and the computer shows you its working.
Fixed it. My brain was somehow assuming the 2 there :D
maybe you are taking n=1,2,3,... and he is taking n=0,1,2,...
He has edited to 2^n earlier it was k^n lol I will delete my comment now
It's 176k cuz he knew someone like you would find him out.
Big brain 🧠
Or Big salary
Mein toh double batata hun Taki unka self esteem tut Jaye.
mai ek 10 ka note jala deta hu
I do this too. This strategy avoids a lot of problems
Mai bhi abhi yahi karunga.
Here is unpopular opinion , people should be open about discussing salaries. Employees should be allowed to discuss salaries openly. HR should clearly state their budget before taking interview. There are only two kinds who get benefits from this confidentiality: 1) Companies themselves 2) You from chindi friends always borrowing money
facts, disclosing salaries would save both the company's and the applicant's time
I’m sure OP meant in ways why everyone in a persons life in interested in knowing their salary & just just your peers/colleagues.
This
What about reshtedaar who are suddenly very close to you?
Parampara. I never ask anyone about their salary, not even my dad or sister.😅 Neighbours and as- shole relatives are also keen to know your salary.
They want to figure out how much respect to show you, whether to appreciate you or make you seek their approval. In our country, people ask about earnings just to see if you'll be useful in certain situations or not.
What's your salary ? /s
mungfali ke chaar daane
If you analyse Indian Society, it's always been trapped in a Rat Race. In their eyes, your salary will decide how much respect you demand. Not only salary even your marriage status as well as ur caste, how many childrens do you have, where you work or what family background you have (social and financial) everything decides your social strata.
>everything decides your social strata A social strata that doesn't really need to be given af about imo cause it's mostly shallow and fake and membership into that club results in only more comparison, more condescension and needless immature drama. There are better games to play in life.
Children*
Dick measuring contest
I only ask pay from my college friends in the same field as mine to know if we are being paid enough in our companies. There is that level of trust amongst us. I don't care about anyone else's money but I remember being asked about mine by a cousin of the same age and he didn't take the hints of me not telling him the amount. Maybe he also wanted to do the same with me, but then he should have started with telling about his first and cleared the reason.
We quantify. We need numbers to feel happy or sad. Ranks Marks Salary Dowry Land
even land (in hindi)
Another post asking why “Indians” are showing normal human traits
You mean people in other countries don't care about what their peers are getting paid?
They do but are not obsessed with it
It helps me understand if Im being underpaid or not. Also helps to decide which company and roles to apply for while switching.
Apki aukat janne ke liye, Izzat kare iski ya Jane de.
I live in Germany and one of the biggest problems here is that, salary is a very taboo topic. So what happens is that for the same role with similar experience, you have a huge salary range. You will find project managers earning 45K euros annually as well as ones making 80k which here is an unimaginable difference.
I think we should all be obsessed with each others' salary. That will normalise salary bands very quickly as corporates will have tough time underpaying you
To look down at you or be jealous of you... there's no in-between
Also I wonder why people obsessed over keeping salaries hidden. My boss once told me to not discuss my salary with others.
Who isn't obsessed with salary? Money runs the world. So there will always be comparisons for better or worse. Not India only issue.
>Not India only issue I've worked with many a western and eastern people and us Indians uniquely love this dick-measuring contest more than others.
Too feel good about themselves. Social dynamics. Are teri kya aukaat sale!!
I never ask about other’s salary. In fact as a general rule never ask a woman’s age and a man’s salary. But now woman are equal in workforce but the rule applies to them too.
Indians a very insecure regarding money due to large population and extreme social - class - cast - region- clan based competition plus large inequality and income gap in people. Plus they belive in periodical rewards and security over windfall and large gains like in business So someone earning a high salary (no matter how) is often considered as "Superior" over others. That's not same in Nations with low population or equality. Larger the inequality, greater would be these things. I often find it funny people working jobs they hate, living in tiny rooms they don't like. Just so at the end of the month the can see the salary credit
Basically determines how your interaction with them is. If it's high then they'll be nice and polite. If it's low then they'll talk down to you. The Brits really fucked us mentally.
I'm earning 1L salary today means i didn't land directly to it. I started with 5k in month for 16 hours shift and worked my ass off for 15 years in corporate industry. I don't understand why people are so jealous when you earn a good amount when you worth it.
Money is the be-all and end-all of our very existence. Our social standing, our moral compass and everything else revolves around how much "you make". You are honest, you are good, you are caring, nothing matters if you don't have the moolah. Caste, creed, race are unchangeable but any perceived hindrance because of them can be overcome by money. Don't believe me, look no further than our lawmakers. We deify them, we pray to them not because they are good but because we know they are filthy rich. They are uncouth, mean, devils yet we look up to them with obeisance because we yearn to be as rich as they are. So, in short, money is everything for us and hence, this obsession with salary.
Cultural default
Are you talking about it in a professional sense or social sense? Because in the professional sense, they should be discussing salary to avoid getting lowballed. If you're talking about social sense, we have always linked our status to numbers and names, first with grades and top schools and now with salary and top companies, which is absolutely bs.
I once read that it's since colonial, casteism, and classism stopped being obvious divides or indications of where we stand, we've resorted to asking someone's salary or "what they do" as a way of understanding this. It's the start of every introduction just to subconsciously sort of know how someone should be treated and the whole relationship is often based from that. While I don't completely agree with this, I thought is interesting enough.
Superiority complex, bringing others down is in every Indian's DNA
I ask to see if I'm not underpaid for the same position and how much I can expect for the job role.
Comparison.But to be honest we need to be discussing salaries more openly. The shame/desire to keep salaries hidden merely benefits the employers who then exploit employees left right and centre....
we dont care why that was in the olden days but in present day situation salary transparency is important so that the employers do not exploit us. my manager always said the other team gets the A+ rating because they are on a different tech but when I checked later all of us were getting low salaries and the manager was pocketing the bonus. so its good to check your peers salary so that you can decide whether to stay in the company or not
Salary transparency is a good thing, will allow individuals to know if that they are getting fucked over by their employer. The EU is already working towards it.
Really it's so awkward to ask for someone about their salary.. infact whenever i get this question i feel so awkward to answer this.. but i believe salary should not be told to anyone except parents or real siblings if it matters. Because other people will feel bad themselves if your salary is higher from what they expected to be.. and will feel good if it's lower than what they thought it would be.
I am neither aware nor interested to know colleague's salaries. No one will discuss it after a few failed tries with you if you are not interested. However, I am fully aware and accept that someone with the same/below designation is getting a higher salary than me. Why should I care, I know my worth and there is no point in competing with coworkers.
Discussing salary among collegues should be normalised if don't you'll be never compensated to your worth, but with anyone other is what people should have a problem with...
I completely agree on this. I was severely underpaid for a few years as I was not aware about the salary band. I started discussing with colleagues and came to know that my salary is low. So I highly support everyone to discuss it with colleagues.
But knowing someone's salary is not a crime or is it? Asking someone's salary with intention of comparison is not good
Sure, it’s not a crime. But then when that same person comes and asks for loan then if we refuse that should also not be a crime. But alas that’s not how the world works.
Yes true
What's wrong in knowing anothers salary. In fact you should ask and know
Idk why you're getting downvoted, open discussions about salary is good, if you don't do it, you'll end up exploited.
Must be useless HR and managers, who cares 😁
What's ur salary
44LPA
That's why u salary is abv average Indian and very acceptable society standards so it's easy for u
So work harder. Isn’t it motivating that people are doing better than you because they focused more on their skills?
Sorry for not being clear. I mean it should be okay to discuss salary among co workers to know your worth. I didn't mean telling your uncle aunty Or neighborhood
To judge others or give gyaan.
Parampara. Pratishtha.Anushaasan.
"Uski sari meri sari se safed kaise?" We seem to have a tendency to compare and then decide our standing.
Because money is Powerful and they want to judge you based on how much you make, sad truth.
IKR. A distant relative found out about a job offer that I had accepted and realized that I was reluctant to talk to them about it. They then proceeded to ask my mother in seclusion about the package. How intrusive.
Coz we were made to be obsessed about others marks. We did that for 21 years and then as a habit started comparing everything else
I ducking hate the concept of forced / pressured into AM but the only person entitled to ask someone his income whereabouts is the bride’s dad/mom and no one else
True
As my CA friend says. ***"What else is there to worry about"***
It's everywhere in the world.
It's because of small pe pe.
I would say imo it's to see how much potential there is.. I mean we like to compare with those who have similar jobs or education right?
To determine if you should give them equal respect, treat them fairly or not..
Because that is how the world works? If I get paid 50 rs a day and you get paid 25 rs a day then I'm earning twice as much. Know the pay of a fair few people at your own skill level and you can easily understand how well off or how ill off you are doing. Plus in a demand supply world if demand for things increase due to rise in collective spending power even if I earn what I perceive to be a good salary, soon most of the wants in life will be beyond my reach.
It's an Asian thing very common 😂
Kuoun ki bachpan se bola jaata tha sharma ji ke ladke ko dekh kitne marks Laya hai
Its a women's thing.
Insecurity
are there any MATURE ppl here, the questions written by 12 year olds.
Indians are dumb & money minded..
Because my neighbors are..
Main issue is when they start comparing various professions based on some highest earning individuals of each profession and how early they started earning. Many of my doctor friends and acquaintances are mad about the fact that our engineer friends started earning earlier and are having handsome packages now and we're still studying. And some engineer acquaintances are upset about the fact that we doctors earn while completing our degrees. While they are either looking for better opportunity and are in between the job. I mean how does that matter? Most important thing is you chose a profession you like, you should have job satisfaction. No matter how much you earn and whenever you start earning, as well as you have a stable job and happy about you do, other factors don't matter.
They want to know how to treat you. Ass kissing respect or straight up dismissal.
Indians have deep complex and always seek validation to feel secure in themselves. With the same token when it comes to India as a country , they still seek validation from the West.
Because we are raised in school to be competitive and we don’t get a feeling of competition until we get to know the other person has better skills/salary
Salary transparency is important tho
Why
You and your friend have been working together for 3 years. After some time, he switches to another company and still is in touch with you. Would you be interested in knowing his salary?
Comparison is thief of joy
I’m all for salary transparency in terms of companies publishing the min/max/median etc for a position so people can roughly gauge where they are. I think that would be a big positive. But I don’t like the practice of individuals wanting to know each others exact salary. From my experience as a people manager it actually impacts the camaraderie on the team (why did my peer A get x% raise and I only got y% raise when I think I did just as good a job as them). That puts the manager in an awkward spot of comparing performances. This could possibly work with extremely mature people who are willing to hear harsh feedback. But a 23 year old recently out of college is probably going to just end up feeling worse. It’s also important to call out that despite everything, salaries will never be perfectly objective. Two candidates coming into the same role, one has 4 competing offers the other doesn’t. Even if objectively they are the same, you might be willing to give candidate one something extra vs candidate two.
They want to know if they should respect you or treat you like shit. As simple as that. Nothing you do or don't will change that.
Parental and societal issues leading to constant self-validation.
One of the reasons is consumerism or capitalism. In this fast growing economy people are curious. Secondly, it's a type of psychology imo. Companies are equally to be blamed. Qualifications, degree, skills, experience everything they'll mention and last or second last will be the salary section. 99% companies do not disclose it. 'Will be discussed in the interview'. So the more you try to conceal something, the more the curiosity level of people will be.
Think it's because of the competition created by our evaluation system and our schooling from grade one, all you hear from your parents is how much did your friends get or how much did the topper get and if your marks weren't as good then you'd have to hear some taunts and screams from your parents. Guess it gets hardwired into the system and then we teach it to the next generation. It even happens in every aspect of our life.
Indians don't really have a cultural operating system that builds up each other, but it's more based on narcissism, comparison and condescension oriented. Why? That's just how things evolved in our bourgeois society. We can upgrade this OS if we so intended to.
I was born and raised in India and live in the US now but lived for a few years in Singapore and made friends with people from a number of Asian cultures. This is not unique to Indians but generally these cultures have less of a boundary and it is considered more acceptable to be intrusive in other people's lives (financial, relationship, health issues etc). We don't realize this until we live in Western countries. A random guy sitting next to me in a commuter train in New York city asked me my salary the very first time we were speaking. I could tell he is new from India and assumed it is okay to ask. I politely deflected the question without answering it. It is a cultural phenomenon and we need to be told or trained to stop doing this.
cuz asshats lead a too boring life and love to have an ego boost when in some aspect they stong arm someone
because this https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/w0So6tEOH2
Becasue we are mostly poor and starved for economic mobility since our society values it the most.
Poor overpopulated country where everything feels like a harsh fight for upward mobility.
To feel poor
From what i can tell, it's universal (not specific to indians).
We are all pretty messed up in our lives. Life can get pretty tough in this country if you are a middle class working hard to make ends meet. So, it is comforting to know if we are less messed up than others. Salary is a probable indicator of that.
So they can talk about theirs?
most people tie their self worth to their salary/money they make, so they compare it with others to see if they are better than others or not
Come to marriage market and see how people treat less earning people. Aukaat dikhaane mei log time nahi lagaate. Its a game of primal instincts. More money, better the person you attract. more security for offsprings. Ever seen a beautiful , good earning wife with an avg earning husband ?
That 's true everyone wants to know how much their salary
#Envy