Fair Pay is out now from Harper Business! Order it from your favorite bookseller:

Amazon, Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop, IndieBound, HarperCollins, Powell’s, Target, or wherever you like to buy books.

“Buckmaster packs his work with insight, and delivers his message in a charming, funny tone… This layperson’s guide will be a boon to anyone looking to understand the forces behind how that number got on their W-2.” -- Publishers Weekly (starred review & PW Pick of the Week)

Blurbs

David Buckmaster describes why the current system of pay is broken and what to do about it. Fair Pay is a timely and important call to action, especially for business leaders whose workers make too little to make ends meet.
— Zeynep Ton, MIT Sloan School of Management and Good Jobs Institute
We have spent a generation laboring under the strange delusion that pay increases would impoverish the country. Fair Pay is both a corrective, but more interestingly, an insiders’ account of the complexities inherent in how corporations really think about pay. Fascinating and essential reading for any economic reformer, or for that matter, anyone who earns a paycheck.
— Tim Wu, author of The Curse of Bigness and The Attention Merchants, former Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy
Take it from an insider: companies don’t compete for wages; they coordinate, making sure that employees are left in the dark. While most people may prefer not to know how sausages are made, knowing how wages are made is crucial for every employee. A must-read for employees and policy makers who believe that reforming the system remains possible.
— Katharina Pistor, author of The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality
In order to know your worth, you need to know how comp works. Anyone who reads this book is in for a treat. David Buckmaster’s unique insight as a corporate pay leader teaches us what the person on the other side of the pay negotiation table is really thinking, and how to make sure you get what you deserve.
— Claire Wasserman, founder of Ladies Get Paid

FAQs

Why did you write this book?

Pay works the same at almost every company, but only about 1 in 5 people think they are paid fairly. How we experience pay is the most obvious opportunity for improving our work lives, yet its the thing we’re least equipped to talk about. I’d like to fix that.

Why should we listen to you?

I’ve led pay teams and projects for some of the world’s best known start-ups and global brands. This has given me a good sense of what works and what does not in the world of pay.

Is this book affiliated with any company?

No. The ideas in FAIR PAY, good and bad, are mine alone and totally separate from my current or past employers.

Can you help me (like me, specifically) get a raise?

Probably so, yes. Most of my friends keep me around for this reason. Drop me a note through the contact form.

Isn’t the wage gap made up?

It’s not. You should really read this book.