Salary Disclosure For Same Role

kempiejon

Thank you I must be obtuse because I still think you're saying the same thing - some people don't like it. To which I am none the wiser even with your example. I'm clearly not getting it, perhaps we miss each others point.
You think people are/will be hacked off and I don't see why. You've offered an example and I can't see why that would be upsetting. My examples didn't cut it.

The OP wanted to know if they were legally entitled to know a colleagues salary - I think we established there is no legal entitlement. The solution to the problem that one of them may have been disadvantaged is to share salaries.

It is said some people won't like that and I have no clearer understanding as to why although you have told me it is true. I don't doubt the veracity of your assertion but it would solve the first part of the problem posed if the people affected shared the info. I understand that people keep some facts private but actually being annoyed to know another's salary seems irrational. As does knowing they know yours. Presumably your boss, HR, accounts, the payroll company your bank staff plenty of people know others' salaries it's not a secret between only you and your priest for example.

I think the million dollar sales agent is a distraction. And thanks for trying.

hyubh

kempiejon said:

It is said some people won't like that and I have no clearer understanding as to why although you have told me it is true. I don't doubt the veracity of your assertion but it would solve the first part of the problem posed if the people affected shared the info. I understand that people keep some facts private but actually being annoyed to know another's salary seems irrational. As does knowing they know yours. Presumably your boss, HR, accounts, the payroll company your bank staff plenty of people know others' salaries it's not a secret between only you and your priest for example.

I think the million dollar sales agent is a distraction. And thanks for trying.

The relevant perspective here is the business owner wanting to limit the possibility of discord in the ranks... A small (and even not so small) business will very likely not have a formal grade system a la public sector, partly because the labour market is competitive, and it would be silly to hamstring what you will offer when hiring. Some times decent applicants will be easy to find, in others not, and if the role needs to be filled, an inflated salary offer relative to the company's norm may just have to be given. Ergo over time it will well be possible for lots of 'anomalies' in what different people are paid, even in a small workforce. All it might take is one 'irrational' employee to cause a stink and the harmony of the whole team could crater.

Personally, I'd have no issue with salaries being publicly available. As you suggest, it feels 'irrational' to object (we all know and accept different people are paid differently in the abstract). Moreover, one symptom of the phenomenon is how job adverts outside of the private sector rarely include prospective salary details - something I really dislike as a prospective candidate. However, if I were a small business owner, I'd be sure to avoid staff discussing salaries for the reason I've given.