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DEMYSTIFYING STAFF SALARY SECRECY

 I have to come back to Staff Salary because of a return to one other thing I settled 5,6 years ago. My conclusion then was, only HR Professionals who are interested in stealing unclaimed wages that take on Pay Roll function in addition to Salary Administration.

What has returned? It is the ignorance of equating Employee Relations with Industrial Relations in Nigeria.

The question today is Could staff salaries be kept private, personal, confidential and secret? If Yes, for how long?

In most properly structured companies, three departments hold information of staff salaries. These are: Human Resources, Finance and Internal Audit. Is it then possible to keep staff salaries personal, private, confidential and secret? My take is that Staff Salaries can only be personal, private, confidential and secret until the payment of the first salary. With so many people with access to the Staff Salaries, it can no longer be kept private, personal, confidential and secret.

Why are staff salaries treated as personal, private, confidential and secret? Amongst other reasons, the following could be adduced:

1. Nepotism

2. Absence of proper job classification.

3. Absence of a well structured salary structure.

4. Inequity. AND

5.Poor salaries.

Currently, some companies especially fully foreign owned that fix staff salaries in home country currencies, consequent upon the harsh economic situation in Nigeria, pay employees peanuts as salaries in Naira.

To prevent employees from being restive over low wages, have come up to make the secrecy of staff salaries a policy whose breach leads to termination of employment. This wicked policy has come to infridge upon the rights of employees to free speech and sharing of information about their employment relationships.

At individual level, it is the responsibility of the HR Professional to get the organisation to pay fair wages and maintain equity. For example, I was employed in one company where my salary was according to a majority of staff was ridiculously high. What I did was to negotiate with management (The CEO) to increase the salaries of all staff in my grade to what I was earning.

Two things could be done to STOP this wicked practice of making salary information sharing an offense.

Firstly, Unionize that work environment.

Secondly, The NSA to get involved in the enslavement of Nigerians by foreigners with the active connivance of pretending HR Professionals.

We are not unmindful of the fact that we now live in a global village where information is available to those who seek for it.

Staff Salaries are no longer private, personal, confidential and secret, except for the few HR Professionals living with Acute Ostrich Syndrome.

Next week, we shall share on the Centrality of Integrity in HR Practice.


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