A UK company took the unusual move of having its staff reveal to one another how much they earn - with some pretty awkward results.
Pimlico Plumbers, headed up by millionaire managing director Charlie Mullins, took part in the social experiment for Channel 4’s Show Me Your Money back in 2011. You can see the moment some staff members found out what their colleagues were paid here:
Prior to sharing their salaries, some staff told the camera they assumed that those doing the same job and working the same hours as them would largely be on the same wages.
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However, as the clip above shows, that wasn’t always the case.
In the documentary, mechanic Adam was paid £25,500 while Nigel, who did a similar job, was on a salary of £30,000.
Meanwhile, body-shop worker Mark was given £31,000, while his colleague John who he worked alongside day-to-day was earning £40,000. Cue some very awkward silences and side-eyed glances.
As you can imagine, the men were not best pleased after finding out what their colleagues earned.
Looking at the two salaries, Mark said: “Me and John do roughly the same job - [but] there’s quite a bit of difference.”
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Manager Danny, who earned £40,000 a year, even chipped in to say that particular pay discrepancy between Mark and John staff made no sense.
He shared: “I can’t see any reason for the wage difference between the two and I see their work first-hand every day.”
Speaking on the documentary Mullins admitted that he never ‘properly had a pay structure’ and said he wasn’t keen on the idea of putting his hand in his own pocket to rectify the issue.
He said: “There ain’t no way it’s going to come out of my money. I pay enough as it is.”
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Instead, Mullins was hopeful that some of his earners would be willing to sacrifice some of their salary to give to their less-paid colleagues.
“Some of them are well over-paid,” Mullins explained. “We pay unbelievably well. Let’s see some of them take a wage cut, do you know what I mean? It’s not the end of the world for them. They’ve still got a job, still earning good money. Let them help out the others.”
And he wasn’t wrong - some of the team were happy to see their salaries reduced if it meant a boost in pay for their colleagues.
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Despite what he originally said, Mullins later decided to match the amount staff members had sacrificed, meaning pay rises for numerous members of staff, including Mark who had his pay increased by £9,000 meaning he ended up on £40,000 a year to match John.
Featured Image Credit: Channel 4Topics: Money, TV and Film, UK News