Do you know my Salary?

There is probably issue I would want to address from a 

human resources perspective: Why is the organization concerned if 

employees discuss salaries with other employees?

One could make the argument that salaries are confidential and 

should not be shared with others. However, it has been my 

experience that employees will discuss salaries regardless of the 

organization' s policy or procedure. It is just human nature.

I would be more concerned about whether or not I am paying employees 

fairly and consistently. I think it is important that we ommunicate 

to employees first-hand specifically why they are being paid a 

particular salary -- so there is not confusion about our policy and 

our practices. 

As you can see, the emphasis would then be on treating employees 

fairly. When that occurs, we really will not care with whom the 

employee shares the information. 

The origin of policies forbidding employees to discuss salaries can 

be traced back to an earlier period when employers did not want 

employees to know that they are being treated differently than other 

employees. A more progressive philosophy is to concentrate on 

treating employees better than they would have expected, and to be 

open about sharing that information with employees, applicants, and 

the public. While I am sure that it is not the situation with your 

company, employees often feel that we use policies to hide the fact 

that our practices are often not in the best interests of our 

employees.