How much do you get paid? Don't answer that out loud. But put a number in your head.
你的工资是多少？先别说出来。在脑子里想一下。
Now: How much do you think the person sitting next to you gets paid? Again, don't answer out loud.
现在想想：你觉得邻座的工资是多少？也别说出来。
At work, how much do you think the person sitting in the cubicle or the desk next to you gets paid? Do you know? Should you know?
你觉得办公室里坐在旁边的同事的工资又是多少？你知道吗？你应该知道吗？
Notice, it's a little uncomfortable for me to even ask you those questions.
问这些问题连我都觉得不太自在。
But admit it -- you kind of want to know.
但是承认吧--你有点想知道答案。
Most of us are uncomfortable with the idea of broadcasting our salary.
我们大多数人都不想告诉别人自己的工资。
We're not supposed to tell our neighbors, and we're definitely not supposed to tell our office neighbors.
我们不想把工资告诉邻居，也绝对不想告诉办公室的同事。
The assumed reason is that if everybody knew what everybody got paid, then all hell would break loose.
可能如果大家都知道别人的工资，就要天下大乱了。
There'd be arguments, there'd be fights, there might even be a few people who quit.
可能会出现争吵，打架，甚至会有人辞职。
But what if secrecy is actually the reason for all that strife?
但如果这个秘密恰恰就是冲突的起因呢？
And what would happen if we removed that secrecy?
如果我们揭开这个秘密会发生什么呢？
What if openness actually increased the sense of fairness and collaboration inside a company?
公开薪资能不能增进公司内部的合作，还有公平感呢？
What would happen if we had total pay transparency?
如果完全公开薪资信息，那会发生什么呢？
For the past several years, I've been studying the corporate and entrepreneurial leaders who question the conventional wisdom about how to run a company.
过去的几年里，我一直在研究那些质疑传统经营理念的企业家和创业者。
And the question of pay keeps coming up. And the answers keep surprising.
而薪资待遇的问题不断浮出水面。答案也在不断挑战传统观念。
It turns out that pay transparency -- sharing salaries openly across a company
结果表明，薪资透明--在整个公司中公开薪资数据，
makes for a better workplace for both the employee and for the organization.
会为雇员和雇主营造更好的工作环境。
When people don't know how their pay compares to their peers', they're more likely to feel underpaid and maybe even discriminated against.
当人们不知道他们同事的工资时，他们总会感觉自己工资太低，甚至受到了歧视。
Do you want to work at a place that tolerates the idea that you feel underpaid or discriminated against?
你想在一个你觉得自己的工资太低或者遭到歧视的地方工作吗？
But keeping salaries secret does exactly that, and it's a practice as old as it is common,
对薪资保密恰恰会导致这样的结果，却被长期且普遍的接受，
despite the fact that in the United States, the law protects an employee's right to discuss their pay.
尽管美国法律保护雇员讨论薪资的权利。
In one famous example from decades ago, the management of Vanity Fair magazine actually circulated a memo entitled:
几十年前，有一个著名的例子，《名利场》杂志的管理层发布了一条规则：
"Forbidding Discussion Among Employees of Salary Received."
“禁止员工讨论工资。”
"Forbidding" discussion among employees of salary received.
“禁止”员工讨论工资。
Now that memo didn't sit well with everybody.
不是所有人都接受得了这条规则。
New York literary figures Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Robert Sherwood, all writers in the Algonquin Round Table,
纽约文坛人物多乐西·帕克，罗伯特·本克利和罗伯特·舍伍德，三位阿冈昆圆桌会议的作家，
decided to stand up for transparency and showed up for work the next day with their salary written on signs hanging from their neck.
决定为薪资透明而战，第二天上班时，他们脖子上挂了个牌子，上面写了自己的工资。
Imagine showing up for work with your salary just written across your chest for all to see.
想象一下你去上班时，胸前挂着工资牌，谁都能看到。
But why would a company even want to discourage salary discussions?
但是为什么公司会反对讨论薪资呢？
Why do some people go along with it, while others revolt against it?
为什么一些人服从，而另一些人反对呢？
It turns out that in addition to the assumed reasons, pay secrecy is actually a way to save a lot of money.
除了之前猜测的理由之外，对薪资保密还是省钱的良方。
You see, keeping salaries secret leads to what economists call "information asymmetry."
想想看，工资不透明会导致经济学家所说的“信息不对称”。
This is a situation where, in a negotiation, one party has loads more information than the other.
在这种情况下谈判的双方，一方比另一方掌握更多的信息。
And in hiring or promotion or annual raise discussions, an employer can use that secrecy to save a lot of money.
在招聘、升职、加薪的讨论中，雇主就可以用这个秘密省很多钱。
Imagine how much better you could negotiate for a raise if you knew everybody's salary.
想象一下，知道每个人的工资，对你的加薪谈判多么有利。
Economists warn that information asymmetry can cause markets to go awry.
经济学家提醒道：信息不对称会导致市场偏离正轨。
Someone leaves a pay stub on the copier, and suddenly everybody is shouting at each other.
如果有人在复印时不小心遗留了一张工资表，很快大家就会彼此争论起来。
In fact, they even warn that information asymmetry can lead to a total market failure.
事实上，经济学家甚至还提醒，信息不对称可能导致市场失调。

And I think we're almost there. Here's why: first, most employees have no idea how their pay compares to their peers'.
我认为我们正处在这个边缘。原因就在于：首先，大部分雇员不清楚自己与同事的工资存在多少差异。
In a 2015 survey of 70,000 employees, two-thirds of everyone who is paid at the market rate said that they felt they were underpaid.
在2015年进行的一项覆盖7万名雇员的调查中，三分之二的调查者认为他们被压低了薪水，虽然他们拿到的都是基于市场正常水平支付的工资。
And of everybody who felt that they were underpaid, 60 percent said that they intended to quit,
这些认为被压低工资的人，有60%说他们想要辞职，
regardless of where they were -- underpaid, overpaid or right at the market rate.
不管他们的实际工资是过低还是过高，还是恰好在正常水平。
If you were part of this survey, what would you say? Are you underpaid?
如果你参与这个调查，你会怎么说？你被压低工资了吗？
Well, wait -- how do you even know, because you're not allowed to talk about it?
等一下，既然都不允许谈论工资，你又怎么知道是被压低了？
Next, information asymmetry, pay secrecy, makes it easier to ignore the discrimination that's already present in the market today.
其次，信息不对称，薪资保密，会让市场中现实存在的歧视更容易被忽视。
In a 2011 report from the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the gender wage gap between men and women was 23 percent.
妇女政策研究协会在2011年发布的一份报告显示，男性和女性的工资差距高达23%。
This is where that 77 cents on the dollar comes from.
这就是“1美元中的77美分”（职场女性的薪酬是男性同事的77%）的来历。
But in the Federal Government, where salaries are pinned to certain levels and everybody knows what those levels are,
但在联邦政府部门，薪资是有固定标准的，每个雇员都清楚这个标准，
the gender wage gap shrinks to 11 percent
那里的性别薪资差距就只有11%，
and this is before controlling for any of the factors that economists argue over whether or not to control for.
这还是在实施经济学家呼吁的控制措施之前的数据。
If we really want to close the gender wage gap, maybe we should start by opening up the payroll.
如果我们真的想消除性别薪资差距，可能需要从公开工资单开始。
If this is what total market failure looks like, then openness remains the only way to ensure fairness.
如果市场失灵就是这个样子，那公开透明仍是保证公平的唯一方法。
Now, I realize that letting people know what you make might feel uncomfortable,
我知道公开收入可能让人不舒服，
but isn't it less uncomfortable than always wondering if you're being discriminated against,
但总是怀疑自己被歧视，
or if your wife or your daughter or your sister is being paid unfairly?
或者家里的女性被不公平的压低薪水不是更让人郁闷吗？
Openness remains the best way to ensure fairness, and pay transparency does that.
公开是保证公平的最好手段，薪资透明就是一种。
That's why entrepreneurial leaders and corporate leaders have been experimenting with sharing salaries for years. Like Dane Atkinson.
这就是这些年企业家和创业者们尝试公开薪资的原因，比如戴恩·阿特金森。
Dane is a serial entrepreneur who started many companies in a pay secrecy condition
戴恩是位连续创业者，他在创建前几个公司时使用了薪资保密制度，
and even used that condition to pay two equally qualified people dramatically different salaries, depending on how well they could negotiate.
甚至会给两个能力相同的员工支付截然不同的薪水，仅仅因为他们谈薪水的能力不同。
And Dane saw the strife that happened as a result of this.
戴恩发现这导致了冲突。
So when he started his newest company, SumAll, he committed to salary transparency from the beginning.
所以当他创办新公司SumAll时，他从一开始就实施了透明薪资制度。
And the results have been amazing. And in study after study, when people know how they're being paid and how that pay compares to their peers',
然而效果出乎意料的好。在一个个的研究中，当人们知道他们的收入和同事相比处于什么水平，
they're more likely to work hard to improve their performance, more likely to be engaged, and they're less likely to quit.
他们会加倍努力工作，提高绩效，更容易被动员，更不容易辞职。
That's why Dane's not alone. From technology start-ups like Buffer,
这就是为什么像戴恩一样的人越来越多。从类似Buffer的初创科技公司，
to the tens of thousands of employees at Whole Foods, where not only is your salary available for everyone to see,
到Whole Foods这样的数万人的大公司，不但大家的薪资都透明化，
but the performance data for the store and for your department is available on the company intranet for all to see.
而且每个分店、每个部门的绩效数据也在公司内网对所有人公开。
Now, pay transparency takes a lot of forms. It's not one size fits all.
实际上，薪资透明有很多方式，并不是一成不变的。
Some post their salaries for all to see. Some only keep it inside the company.
有的公司把薪资向所有人公开。有的只是在公司内部公开。
Some post the formula for calculating pay, and others post the pay levels and affix everybody to that level.
有的公开薪资的计算公式，有的公开他们的薪资级别，并且公开员工对应的级别。
So you don't have to make signs for all of your employees to wear around the office.
所以你不用为每个员工做个工资牌挂在身上。
And you don't have to be the only one wearing a sign that you made at home.
你也不用像三位作家一样自己做个工资牌挂在身上。
But we can all take greater steps towards pay transparency.
但我们可以一起努力，推进薪资透明化。
For those of you that have the authority to move forward towards transparency: it's time to move forward.
如果你有权利在公司里推进工资透明化：现在是你向前迈进的时候了。
And for those of you that don't have that authority: it's time to stand up for your right to.
如果你没有这样的权利，现在就是站起来争取这个权利的时候。
So how much do you get paid? And how does that compare to the people you work with?
那么，你的工资是多少呢？和你的同事相比怎么样？
You should know. And so should they. Thank you.
你应该知道。他们也应该知道。谢谢。