Have to disclose salary but have confidentiality clause

[chstrong]

Hi there,

I got a job offer from a large bank in Singapore. I had an interview already and they want me to join, but I need to disclose my salary in detail so that they will make me an offer. This seems how things are handled here so in general I would be ok disclosing my salary to them. But in my current contract I have a confidentiality clause which states:

Confidential Information
The terms of this contract of employment and any ongoing salary or compensation payments made to you from time to time should not be disclosed to any entity, organisation or person or discussed with any employee of the company except your immediate Manager and the Human Resources department. You are required to maintain confidentiality of Confidential information and by signing this contract of employment with the company, except as required by law, for any reason disclose any confidential information prior written approval.

So if I provide this information it is a direct violation of my contractual agreement. If I don't provide the information, I don't get an offer.

Violating the contract in this industry could mean losing the job and never finding one again.

Does anybody here have experience how to handle such a situation?

Thanks in advance.

[x9200]

Show them this piece of your current contract and if they still insist, ask whether they would feel comfortable to hire somebody with disrespect to the employment contracts.

Use the situation to your advantage and tell them, the best you could offer is a salary range, and if they agree, inflate (above your expectations) the upper part so you may have more freedom to negotiate the salary they are going to propose.

[sundaymorningstaple]

^^^This!

[chstrong]

Thanks for your reply x9200.

Tried, but they said they need to follow their process and were under the impression, that this clause has been mainly added to prevent people speaking about their salaries. It's still a violation, but a lot of other companies seem to do the same thing.

I'm not on Directors level and everything below this position seems to be treated as mass-predefined-process. Same issues in the Country I'm from. It just has some laws preventing companies from obtaining the current salaries. After investigating I discovered that Singapore has no such law.

They at least agreed, that they will keep the information confidential on their side and will not contact my employer before I agree to it.

So I guess I have no other choice then to give them the info and see with what kind of offer they come up with. But I have my limits set.

[duluoz1]

If you want the job, you'll tell them.

Sent from my SM-A800I using Tapatalk

[DrScrumMaster]

everything below this position seems to be treated as mass-predefined-process.

Is that the kind of company you want to work for?

[duluoz1]

Standard for MNCs. They won't change the process for one hire

Sent from my SM-A800I using Tapatalk

[x9200]

So they forcing somebody to violate his contract and they do it so they can scr**w this person not offering him what he is worth, but what he may likely accept. Sick. Frankly, I would walk away.

[duluoz1]

That's a separate discussion. He needs to focus the conversation on what he thinks he's worth, rather then his current salary. But most companies in my experience ask for your current comp, and expect proof. Forget about violating the clause, it's only in there so your current company can pay you less than your colleagues.

Sent from my SM-A800I using Tapatalk

[PNGMK]

I've struggled with this as well and lost jobs by refusing to reveal confidential information from my current employer. In the last case with FMC I found their ethics reporting system online and lodged a complaint against the local HR here. I have no idea if it did anything but it made me feel better.

A way of getting around this might be to agree to show them your bank account statements (but no paper work from your current employer). Regardless I think it's an insidious bullshit practice and the HR "practitioners" who encourage this should be drowned in a hessian bag at Changi beach every Sunday morning.

[Strong Eagle]

If your salary is truly a confidential item according to your company, then put down whatever you want. The new company will be unable to verify whatever you write down because, after all, your salary is confidential.

[duluoz1]

If your salary is truly a confidential item according to your company, then put down whatever you want. The new company will be unable to verify whatever you write down because, after all, your salary is confidential.

Have just moved jobs here to join a large Western MNC. They needed to see evidence of salary, not least for the EP application. Would be very hard to refuse to show evidence, and wouldn't look good to have lied about it.

[PNGMK]

If your salary is truly a confidential item according to your company, then put down whatever you want. The new company will be unable to verify whatever you write down because, after all, your salary is confidential.

Have just moved jobs here to join a large Western MNC. They needed to see evidence of salary, not least for the EP application. Would be very hard to refuse to show evidence, and wouldn't look good to have lied about it.

A PDF editor is your friend.

[duluoz1]

If your salary is truly a confidential item according to your company, then put down whatever you want. The new company will be unable to verify whatever you write down because, after all, your salary is confidential.

Have just moved jobs here to join a large Western MNC. They needed to see evidence of salary, not least for the EP application. Would be very hard to refuse to show evidence, and wouldn't look good to have lied about it.

A PDF editor is your friend.

I'm actually kind of curious now what my hiring company would have said if I'd refused to tell them my current salary. I presume they'd have moved on to another candidate, but perhaps not. Personally the only reason not to disclose is to try to get a higher salary. The non disclose clause doesn't mean anything to me. As I said, it's only there so they can pay you less than colleagues.