[dworin]

"2. Internal employees - Stack Overflow said this has been available internally for a bit, but when employees find out what others are making they are inclined to compare their own efforts/abilities vs others. It can lead to people either asking for raises to match their co-workers, or perhaps feeling slighted and seeking other employers."

One nice thing about being transparent and consistent with salaries is that you can have an objective conversation with someone about the reasons that they're making less, versus having to rely on vague, irrelevant, or harmful explanations like "he was making more at another company," or "he negotiated harder." If someone thinks they should be making what another developer is being paid, they need to make the case based on clearly laid out criteria.

There's no compensation system that makes everyone happy, and there shouldn't be. You want a system that leaves people knowing where they stand, what it takes for them to make more, and management that encourages them to grow into that amount.

[fecak]

>One nice thing about being transparent and consistent with salaries is that you can have an objective conversation with someone about the reasons that they're making less, versus having to rely on vague, irrelevant, or harmful explanations...

Those objective conversations are a great benefit to salary transparency in theory, and I can't imagine you can open up your numbers without being at least somewhat prepared for those conversations to take place. I would be curious if companies that provide salary transparency wouldn't be scurrying to make some salary adjustments in the days before the data becomes public.

The issue lies in the fact that developer contribution is more than just commits and LOC stats, and it's tough to measure objectively. You're likely to get into some rather vague explanations, even if they aren't as nefarious as negotiating ability or salary history.

It's a step in the right direction, though until we have clear and widely accepted methods of measuring contribution we'll still have disagreements on individual employee value.

[optforfon]

it sounds a bit too idealistic. How about if someone is hired at a hire rate because "well we needed someone with his skill set ASAP, so we agreed to pay him a premium" (but we can't afford to pay everyone at that rate) or "We desperately needed someone quickly with skill set X and he was the only person available"

And sometimes comparing people and their skill sets is really apples to oranges. If one guy is an expert on some very specific top, and thats important for your business (and is therefore an expensive hire) - it doesn't mean you should create an incentive for other employees to learn his skill set (maybe you only need one statistician or expert in COBOL or whatever)

"There's no compensation system that makes everyone happy"

Sure, pay people way above market rate and don't allow them to compare wages. They will not feel ripped off and they don't develop a sense on inadequacy

[softawre]

> Sure, pay people way above market rate and don't allow them to compare wages

That sounds illegal. Can you really not allow your employees to compare wages?

[Nick-Craver]

In the US at least (I can't speak for elsewhere), preventing this is illegal. Companies discourage it through various ways and it's practically an embedded culture thing at this point throughout the country. But: you cannot legally prevent it.

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 is what you're looking for here - it provides employee protections for such discussions.

[JustSomeNobody]

Yeah, it's interesting. They can't prevent it, but if you do it, you can guarantee you'll be fired. They'll just eliminate your position for some other reason.

[phasmantistes]

You don't want to work for a company that operates that way anyway, if you can avoid it.

[pwang]

No, you cannot.

[passiveincomelg]

I don't know about the comparing bit, but paying way above market rate doesn't even seem to work. I read some Netflix reviews on Glassdoor, saying that people increase their standard of living to their high income and become dependent on it. The anxiety and stress this causes has a negative impact on the culture. Totally ridiculous that people screw themselves over like this, IMHO. :-(

[optforfon]

Money doesn't buy you happiness, but at some point you prolly stop blaming it on your employer haha

[passiveincomelg]

What sucks about this is that the people who can't handle the high salary ruin it for everyone.

[794CD01]

"He's more skilled than you" sounds far more toxic than either of those "bad" reasons you gave as examples.