Potential employers asking to see W2s

More of the job-killing guvvmint regulations from which The Job Creators must be set free.

Along with those silly minimum-wage laws and OSHA regulations.

 

You have absolute privacy in this matter, in that you absolutely do not have to apply for the job.

 

Someone remind me again that one-on-"one" compensation negotiations are totally fair.

 

you honestly believe child labor really isn't that bad of a thing, don't you?

 

So long as you KNOW you're being reasonable, given the position at stake:


"Here's the number. I won't do this job for less."


typically does wonders, if those doing the hiring are serious.

 

If they want a W-2, can I have last year's compensation report? If they want to know what I made, shouldn't I be able to know what they paid everyone else?

 

Tend not to look to bust balls in negotiations, but when the employer (and I've been there) comes out playing bare-knuckle hardball, the prospective employee knows the precise degree of lowball that's already been placed on the table, and can either knuckle under or draw a line in the sand.

Don't underestimate the effectiveness of bullying a bully. The darlings aren't used to that treatment.

 

. . . and it does help if you're not competing with thousands . . . and you have multiple Unique Selling Propositions working in your favor.

 

In the end, it comes back to who needs whom more. If you need the job more than they need you, then they have the upper hand. If they need you more than you need them, you can and should and have to use that.

But if you're one of those who feels that every employee should negotiate individually, and that that's an even fight, then the request to see the compensation report should be perfectly reasonable. Of course, there's not a company in creation that'll let you do that. And that's the point.

 

Agree completely. I think it's silly that they would ask for copies of W-2s, but can understand why some would do that: To get the upper hand in negotiating, to see if you're being honest about your salary history, and mostly because they can. I've always believed that a true, honest interview process is about the employer selling itself to the individual as much as the other way around.

I understand and salute those who would tell the employer to suck a bag of dicks when asked for them (or Facebook passwords, etc.), but I also can understand why some would turn that information over freely because they need the job.

When I was growing up in the late 1970s, my father was one who at the drop of a hat would tell an interviewer/employer to get bent if he thought his rights were being trampled. He burned enough bridges and the economy was so bad, he couldn't get ANY job, and he had to borrow money from every relative and friend he could find to make mortgage payments, put barely-edible food on the table, keep us dressed in second-hand, ill-fitting clothes that made us the joke of the school, etc. I appreciate him teaching me to "stand up to the man," but part of me will always hate him for what he put us through and for deciding that providing for his family was not a priority.

I've never been in this position and hope I never am, but if I find myself unemployed and it comes down to providing copies of W-2s or going home and telling my kids that we may not have a place to live in a month, I know which direction I'll go.