Here’s the real problem with sharing salary info. Employees act like toddlers most of the time. It causes unnecessary drama and bitterness. If one person thinks they do more work, but are paid less, they will usually start doing less, or not caring. The only way to remedy that is to fire and start over, another pain.

Oh great, I’m glad if I can contribute something helpful to the conversation! I think like a lot of things this topic is kind of gray area. In my experience, where it’s been OK, was when it was kind of a personal decision between two individuals who had a reason to want to share it, and hopefully know each other well enough to think they can probably handle the answer.

But you never really know, it might turn out to be a bad decision. I’ve certainly shared this info with close colleagues before, and sometimes it was useful. Sometimes it was asked and answered in light of upcoming salary negotiations, between two work buddies. But I’ve also seen that very same thing lead to really bad work conditions, with, like, constant bad vibes and sniping and factions and shit.

So, it’s not very common, you know? People just kind of shy away from it. And I don’t think that’s all because of some propaganda campaign by the bosses.