The Chief Happiness Officer makes a compelling case for making salaries open information within companies. In a public company where the upper management is answerable to the shareholders, their salaries are known to all, which makes perfect sense because they have to justify their salaries through their performance. However, as a regular employee you never know what your peers (who may be doing the same kind of job you do) make, which means that you are unsure whether to feel frustrated at your (possibly) perceived lack of a decent pay, or to feel contented that your pay is at the right end of the satisfaction scale.
Making salaries public (inside the company of course) has some major advantages:
1. Salaries will become more fair. The system gets a chance to adjust itself.
2. It will be easier to retain the best employees because they’re more likely to feel they’re getting a fair salary.
3. The pressure is on the people with the high salaries to earn their keep. Everybody has to pull their weight – the higher the salary, the larger the weight.
What a great idea! (Isn’t it ironic that you are given shares so that you are part owner of your company, but salaries are hush-hush transactions?) To repeat the CHO’s challenge to the decision makers..
So try it: Make salaries open. I double-dare you.