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Comment by wolco | Hacker News Reader

A system like this encourages others to compare salaries and make judgements about oneself related to how well one is doing compared to someone else. This creates unhappyness because some feel they work harder and shouldn't be paid a quarter less. The person getting the extra amount feels they are more successful than there peers. All this does is distract you from the fact that both of you are making only a few dollars above minimum wage. If you only look at total pay in relation to your needs you will accept and be proud of your wage.

I have seen people who love there job find out someone they feel does not measure up to them make more money. This causes them to start hating the role they once loved and in some cases they left for the same salary elsewhere.

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Which hurts the original company such that they start making better salary decisions. Transparency seems like a good thing here but it does create chaos during periods of correction.

Salary comparisons happen anyway, with the same effect, although you typically have to do it in secret because in many company's, sharing salary information is against company policy.

In my anecdotal experience, the angst doesn't last long, unless you are actually severely underpaid. And that's a problem regardless of salary disclosure.

In my opinion, I like the idea of open salary information because I suck at negotiating, and this would help. Why penalize people that haven't specialized in salesmanship? I became a developer to concentrate on solving problems, not trying to outwit and out-politic my co-workers, managers, and potential hiring managers.

You are describing one possible reaction and the implication is that people should try to remain blissfully ignorant to avoid having to experience this type of envy or reduced self-esteem. There are people that have this reaction and do try to avoid it all costs but it's certainly not the only way. I, for one, relish this kind of gritty reality feedback from the world and try to use it to guide my choices. If you get to peek at salaries and find they are unfair, well now you can feel empowered to negotiate from a position where you can revoke an employer's BS of "we need to keep everyone's salary on an even (read: artificially capped) playing field and therefore we can't go making exceptions for you". On the other hand, sometimes you peek and are presently surprised that you landed somewhere actually walking the meritocratic walk. Does it sting to see that some bozo makes more than you? Of course. But now you know and can take steps to rectify the situation. I'm definitely biased toward the growth mindset school of things; I'd say "peeking" is overall net positive in most cases, whether we are talking salaries or any other sensitive information. Now that I think about it, It would be awesome to see everyone's performance reviews. Who's getting a free a pass and who's getting a raw deal and such.

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