Discussion on:

Would you want to know your co-workers' salaries?

I found out what a fellow worker was earning (we were all told by the Bullying boss we were on the same salary) - I dam soon turned and burned - when I discovered the bullying boss was paying salary on personality, not technical and practical ability.. two years later he was claiming what I was the hardest worker he'd ever employed - Salary disclosure is a double edged sword..

Most of the conversation on this thread seems to be US based so wanted to add a further view. I work in the UK for a US based company. There is a strict no-talking-about salary policy that borders on dogma. Firstly it is against the law to not allow someone to find out their co-workers salaries.

"The Equality Act 2010 provides that an employer cannot prevent their employees from making a relevant pay disclosure to anyone, and cannot prevent employees from seeking such a disclosure from a colleague, including a former colleague. A relevant pay disclosure is one that is made (or sought) for the purpose of finding out whether or to what extent there is unlawful pay discrimination. It is not limited to discrimination on grounds of sex. The Code of Practice on Equal Pay between women and men provides further information about the law (see paras 103 110)."

So I can request information of my colleagues salary - as long as the conversation is about discrimination.

Define and prove discrimination.
Because you are the "wrong" gender, sexual orientation, religion,colour, age, okay no-argument.

But where do you stop. Hair colour? Competence, musical tastes..

I've been discriminated against for not believing what management say....

The government site does give some examples on their site but, yes, it would be very difficult to prove. Also as a white, heterosexual, Christian, middle-aged male I would get laughed out of court - because nobody ever discriminates against these groups do they?
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/tools-equal-pay/discussing-pay-with-colleagues/protected-discussions-with-colleagues-and-others-about-pay/

People are far too concerned with whats going on with the other guy. If you use that information to motivate you, then good for you, if you sit and stew about how so-and-so makes more than you, and shouldn't, then you should either figure out how to get where you want to be, or go somewhere else. I think companies should be transparent with salaries of CEOs so that people (share holders, employees, customers) can get a window into the company and its culture.

Maybe seeing that others are doing better than you will inspire you to produce better work, be a little friendlier, wear a shorter skirt

boss gave me a pay cut. Apparently my fish belly white short hairy legs were not something they wanted to see more of.

The lawyer said I would have won the discrimination suit, if I hadn't have worn an even shorter one to the court case.

Note to self, deal with bikini line.

Where disclosure does not hurt, it needs to be open and I don't see how a person knowing my level of income would hurt me unless a) I leave beyond my means or b) I leave like I have no income.

I worked at a job in a lab that lasted 19 years. Pay levels were not discussed and were not known among the employees mostly because the company was always looking for bargain priced employees. I was the most senior lab tech by the time the whole lab was out sourced to over seas. I wanted to be the first out the door but I was the only fully qualified tech so the company retained my services to the last day( would you walk a way from double your pay when you were already set for early retirement?). The grind with me is that because I stayed I found out that a lot of the employees were over paid for their skill and education levels. Being popular was more important then being able to do the job. If the information had been a matter of public record many of the problems due to employees not being qualified to do their jobs would have never occurred. Plus, tracing job discrimination and pay issues relating to equal pay for equal work would have doable. I checked out the companies current hiring practices and you can't even get an interview for my old job without having a degree in the actual field. By the way the out sourcing did not work and many of the company's operations have now returned to the shores of my country.

I always keep salary info very private, in fact many companies I've been with have a specific policy where salaries are not to be discussed among employees.

I was shocked to find out one of the girls at where I work now knows how much I am paid. I find that it always creates dissension and rumour mills. I don't CARE what anyone else is paid, as long as I am paid what I feel I am worth for a role. Generally, because of the type of work and skill set I bring to a company, I am one of the highest paid anyway, besides the company president anyway.

People get PO'd when they find out I seemingly work fewer hours and yet often double their income, especially management that's been there a while. What they don't realize is that I bring a strong skill set and a lot of experience, so my start wage is generally a lot higher. I always negotiate a salary based on my proposal to the company, instead of filling a role for a recruiter with a predetermined scale for it. I'd never accept what a company proposes as pay, ALWAYS ask for more, no matter the role or the employer.

They will usually meet you in the middle anyway.

At the very least, companies should have pay banding, where a person's pay is related to their responsibilities and how well they discharge them. If sensible pay bands are in place then the step to full disclosure would be a simple and painless step. Full disclosure fails in companies where roles and responsibilities are not well defined and popularity with management seems to define salary more so than actual productivity. I would even go so far as to say that popularity with peers should be a more important criteria for determining an employee's salary.

How else can one decide whether one is getting paid enough? Knowing what an individual coworker makes can build bad blood; when people see something different they frequently interpret it in as negative a light as possible.

OTOH, publishing selected salaries may be an incentive to some. Showing how much the top performers make versus the mid-level performers in the same position and salary band provides incentive to improve one's performance.