“50 Shades of Pay Grades”: a.k.a. “The Organization Who Shared Too Much…”

“50 Shades of Pay Grades”: a.k.a. “The Organization Who Shared Too Much…”

Disclaimer:  The following is a true story based on actual events which took place in the Washington, DC-area.  The names of the actual organizations and/or individuals involved have been changed or redacted.  None of the persons or organizations involved are current (or prior) clients or partners of RiteTech LLC or ModernHOA.com:

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The Internet and Web-related technologies have certainly brought with them a great deal of interesting capabilities.   However, as well quoted from the movie Spiderman:  “With great power, comes great responsibility”.

This brings us to the topic of what types of information or documents can (or SHOULD) be published on Internet-accessible web sites, versus those that should not.  In the HOA-centric community, the default tendency or inclination from homeowners or residents might be to simply “publish & share everything” – but, there are some serious potential downsides to that approach, particularly if care is not taken regarding how to properly organize, secure, or evaluate certain documents.  And when mistakes happen, they can have bizarre and long-lasting consequences.  And with that, here’s one of our favorite Web-based “War Stories”:

There was an organization in the Washington, DC that employed several direct staff members (as well as contractors).  They had a shared document system that was essentially fairly freely accessible.  One day, one of their staff published a document on their web site which, perhaps, maybe not have been published or shared at all – but, I’ll let those reading this post decide that, after hearing more about it:

The document appeared to list individual staff positions’ hourly pay rates and other compensation-related information that was not supposed to be public knowledge (even within the organization). It took several days until the appropriate supervisory staff was alerted that this document had been inappropriately uploaded or shared-out by a staff member, and that corrective action was taken. Why did it take so long for management to be alerted?

Well, as it turns out, this document ended up becoming the organization’s favorite internal “naughty little secret”, and the subject of that organization’s intense water-cooler gossip for days. Staff was secretly making various remarks to each-other such as, “I can’t believe that so-and-so’s position makes $$$, but this other person doesn’t, etc., etc.”. It was almost as it was the latest naughty adult romance novel that had been smuggled into the junior high school library, and every student was itching to get their hands on it before the teachers or the parents found out about it, and snatched it away.

How did that “50 Shades of Pay-Grades” story ultimately end?… The answer – is that it ends with a bit of a “surprise” or “twist” ending… and probably not in the way that you’ll expect!   Check back in a few days, or subscribe to receive Blog Updates, to find out…

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