News You Can Use: Grads’ salaries spike 7.6%

I’m not sure I understand. New graduates – who have little experience and are most likely to leave your organization after a year or two – are seeing the highest salary increases? Apparently, according to a new survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, which shows starting salaries for newbies is up 7.6%. Explain this to me, please.

News You Can Use: Breaking the salary talk taboo

Should salaries be public? The issue won’t be moot, if a new Web site has its way.

While salary ranges have been available for some time on the Internet, Glassdoor.com, launched in June, now makes it possible for employees to post their salaries for the world to see. The site lists some 88,000 salaries at 11,000 companies in 90 countries, according to an article in yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor.

It's a level of transparency that hasn't existed before, so it's initially uncomfortable," Robert Hohman, CEO of Glassdoor, told the Monitor. "But it's empowering. Being paid fairly for our work affects us emotionally, and having that income affects our life.”

Some companies already make employee salaries public. Is this the way to ensure fairness in the workplace? Does salary transparency serve as an incentive because people must live up to their level? Or does it only breed discontent? There often are other components to compensation; should they, too, be public?

Tell us what you think!