In the US, in almost every publicly funded position, your job, salary and benefits are available for everyone to see. I am employed by a publicly funded institution now, and everything I earn is available for consumption, along with extra-duty pay, benefits, and historical data.
Why would it be crazy for that to be available for everyone? I genuinely don't get what the big idea is.
The logic with the public sector is that "the people" are paying for it so it's their business where the money is going.
I'm not personally much of a fan of private sector salaries, income tax paid, etc. being a matter of public record but it's also not obviously "crazy" either. There are reasonable debates about transparency at the margins and this is a margin.
"I'm not personally much of a fan of private sector salaries...being public"
Think bigger, you are missing the forest for the trees.
It is not about Tom finding out Joe is getting paid 5% more.
It's about Joe finding out his employer took advatage of his inexperienceand lied to him, and everyone in the industry gets paid 2x what he does.
Corporations have a massive data advantage and leverage over you, they know how much everyone is paid, and how much their competitors pay. This data helps level the playing field.
It also helps detect illegal price fixing, breaches of minimum wage, makes plain effectiveness or ineffectiveness of unions, etc. It informs journalism and policy.
Every time you refuse to tell your colleague your salary, you are not helping yourself, you are helping your boss.
In general I think it would be a good thing as well, but there are some downsides that come to mind.
For example, seeking new employment your new employer would be able to see your previous salary. That means people who start out in the lower wage markets could have a much harder time improving their salaries.
So I make $50K more than you. And, in your opinion, you're a harder worker than me, are more valuable, etc. On the one hand, yes, that is perhaps fodder for you to have a conversation with your manager. On the other hand, it's also fodder to go home and grumble about how underappreciated you are because your coworker who doesn't do crap as far as you're concerned but makes a bunch more than you do.
Not saying either approach is necessarily wrong. But it probably works better in public sector which tends to be very seniority based. In the US, it would breed a lot of resentment towards people who you thought were overpaid relative to yourself for many people.
If I know I am a better employee than you, and you make that much more, if I am unwilling to do anything about it but grumble, that's a personal problem. I would argue that anyone who is willing to stay in a shit situation without trying to remedy said situation (being underpaid and knowing it for a fact) sort of brought those problems on themselves. It's a problem to complain about only if you have tried to fix it and couldn't.
Systematically, it would allow people to see which businesses pay best, where their particular skills would be best reimbursed. Therefore, anyone in that shit situation who wants to grumble would have even more information available to them to be able to shop for jobs.
It boils down to what people consider personal information. I don't especially want to share this information (nor lots of other things about my personal life) and that's my decision to make absent public policy that goes in a different direction. So it's a downside to me simply because I don't think my salary or many other things are any of your business.
Also you don't know you're a better employee than me. You think you are but you may not even be aware of a bunch of stuff I do.
That's fair. I think we just have a basic difference in what should be everyone's business. I don't want my address out in the world, but I have zero problems with my salary and job for public consumption.
>Also you don't know you're a better employee than me. You think you are but you may not even be aware of a bunch of stuff I do
This is actually still a pro-, in my opinion, on public salary information. If I know you make more and approach the manager, it opens up a line of discussion on expectations versus outcomes versus perceptions. I think it actually makes the process of helping staff improve much easier!
Although if you own a house your address is out in the world in the US.
In general default to private is the norm in the US and there isn’t a general sentiment to generally change that with respect to salary, tax returns, etc.
For publicly funded positions salary is just a matter of transparent government. Address and phone? Probably not so much. However, the previous post talked about "everyone" and "company", not publicly funded positions.
If you own a home in the US, your address is public record at least unless you take steps through shell companies etc. to hide it. And while it's less relevant with the decline of land lines, so was your phone number unless you paid to make it unlisted.
Why would it be crazy for that to be available for everyone? I genuinely don't get what the big idea is.