It's ironic that money talks, but employees are not supposed to talk money. However, employees do talk money, and when there is a policy of secrecy on this subject, all that really happens is that their conversations are filled with inaccuracies.
Policies in this area are premised upon various archaic notions. One is that employees don't know enough about pay to talk about it, and the other is that if employees are allowed to talk about money, the topic will consume them. Of course, none of this could be further from the truth. There are some companies that take a different tack and cling to a policy of pay secrecy simply because it is a tradition.
The truth is that growing numbers of companies are becoming far more open regarding their policies in this area. Some are even taking extra steps to make sure that employees fully understand the pay systems and levels.
Companies that have equitable pay systems are typically comfortable in letting the employees see how they work, and doing so also lets the employees know that management regards them as adults. And further, studies are now finding that there are increases in pay-related satisfaction when employees can openly talk about pay.
The bottom line is that growing numbers of companies are finding that it pays to let employees talk about pay.
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