If salaries were transparent wouldn't that create an incredible amount of animosity between co-workers? When HR has to negotiate and pay someone more to join the company everyone else is going to be extremely jealous. You think people are going to understand? They are not going to. People are not rational. It's more common sense than fear. Disclosing salaries is going to create way more social problems than it solves. Companies aren't forcing anyone to keep their salary secret. People themselves don't want their salaries disclosed, and for good reason. Kind of hard to work together when everyone is reduced to a number.
My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
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Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#32In Finland wages are public information. The tax office makes the data available yearly, so you can easily look up how much your neighbor made last year.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#33I feel this is a faulty exercise. Would you disclose your salary if you knew you made more than your peers? I guess the end effect would be, only those who feel they are making less would disclose.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#34I've come to realize lately that I have absolutely no idea what I should be making. I know what I make and I know what I have made in the past, but I have no idea whether it's above or below average. The only way I can think of to determine my value is to go interview in a bunch of places and see what they offer. However, I have no interest in leaving my job right now, and I feel like it's dishonest to go through the…
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Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't it be better if A, B, C, and you joined together and hired some professional lawyers and negotiators to work on your behalf (ie organized labor, union)?
That sounds expensive.
In practice, it also leads to the lawyer and union representatives having 10x-50x the pay of the people they "work for". Study Swedish unions to see how it works.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#36Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#37If salaries were transparent wouldn't that create an incredible amount of animosity between co-workers? When HR has to negotiate and pay someone more to join the company everyone else is going to be extremely jealous. You think people are going to understand? They are not going to. People are not rational. It's more common sense than fear. Disclosing salaries is going to create way more social problems than it solves…
You can already see how 100% salary transparency works in Finland or Sweden.
Anyone can look up a co-worker's salary from data made available by the tax office. (Of course the information is about a year out of date because it's based on tax returns.)
Are employees "reduced to numbers" in Sweden and Finland? Certainly not. On the contrary, these societies are considered some of the most open and equal in the world. Maybe salary transparency has something to do with it too.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you mean? Can every citizen learn how much taxes has anybody else paid, including the incomes of the people outside the public sector?
Yes, you look it up on a website.
It's the same for Norway, all information is public. It does lead to salaries reaching some sort of equilibrium for the the same role, as it is much harder to argue against an employee, when he points out all his peers are making more money for the same work.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#39I find it interesting to read about this "taboo" because, as a scientist at a public university, the issue is...nonexistent! If you are a scientist writing grant applications with other people (the norm), then you need to know their exact salaries in order to fill out the application. This includes the salaries of people above and below you in the food chain. There is no mystery or taboo in it whatsoever. Working at…
Here in Sweden, taxable income for everyone is bublicly available. I always find it amusing/sad to read about this taboo in the US.
Isn't it sort of taboo here too, though? I've seen people being told to fuck off for asking that question, or at least politely declined. Even my close family have always been reluctant to divulge their exact income to me, with a few exceptions. It's not a thing that I would ask someone without feeling pretty certain they wouldn't mind.
Re: My Struggle with the Last Great Taboo: Admitting My Salary
#40If salaries were transparent wouldn't that create an incredible amount of animosity between co-workers? When HR has to negotiate and pay someone more to join the company everyone else is going to be extremely jealous. You think people are going to understand? They are not going to. People are not rational. It's more common sense than fear. Disclosing salaries is going to create way more social problems than it solves…
This is a myth easily dispelled by the existence of countries where salaries are publicly available (e.g. Sweden or Finland) or cultures where people talk about their salaries freely (e.g. most of the world outside US).