TED演讲:为什么你应该知道你同事的工资(3)

 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 secrecy¹ 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 economists² call "information asymmetry³." 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 negotiation⁴, 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 promotion⁵ 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 awry⁶. 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,  在2015年进行的一项覆盖7万名雇员的调查中，

two-thirds of everyone who is paid at the market rate said that they felt they were underpaid.  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 gender⁷ 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。

1 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 asymmetry   

n.不对称；adj.不对称的，不对等的

参考例句：

• These bands must introduce longitudinal asymmetry in the planetary albedo.这些云带必定引起行星反照率的经向不对称性。
• In any event the asymmetry is clear enough.总之，不对称是非常明显的。

4 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

5 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

6 awry   

adj.扭曲的，错的

参考例句：

• She was in a fury over a plan that had gone awry. 计划出了问题，她很愤怒。
• Something has gone awry in our plans.我们的计划出差错了。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。