The idea of publishing everyone's salary publicly is really a controversial conversation. It's quite an interesting topic though. I had to ask a few friends and even my siblings about their opinions on this and majority of them disagreed to it for obvious reasons and some also agreed with the idea.
To those who supports it, they said it will promote fairness, transparency and minimize corruption in our work places, while those against they believe it will cause issues like jealousy, create problems amongst staff and many more negative effects.
After hearing their different ideas and opinions, I just realized that it has its advantages and disadvantages.
Public display of people's income can affect employers positively and negatively, and even the society at large.
Regardless of the consequences it might cause in workplaces, I still see reasons with those who believe it's a good thing for salaries to be published publicly, especially in a society like mine, regardless of the fact that it doesn't sit right with me.
A society where there's constant exploitation by accountants, human resources and other bodies incharge of paying salaries. I have seen good company staff being exploited by those incharge of disbursement of their salaries, not the company. I have seen a case where the human resources incharge of paying salaries kept cutting payments because they happened to be middlemen between the company and their contract staff, until they were caught and detained.
We can all agree that if these salaries were made public, that would have made it impossible for them to steal from the staff.
We all condemn comparisons at work places, but the fact is that it really hurts when we realize that people we share the same position and effort with at work are being paid higher. It could be due to favouritism, tribalism, gender inequality and many other factors.
With a public display of salary, these things won't happen. These are real life situations people go through at their workplaces, and they could be prevented. The salary might not be public knowledge, but within staff, the owners of these companies should publicize the amount given to staff in their various positions, to promote transparency, fairness and equality between employees.
Publishing salary publicly might spark potential problems, like unhealthy competition and jealousy amongst staff, and when situations like this keep occurring, it could affect team work.
Considering how humans can behave, I also see reasons why those who disagree with the public display of salary alot could go wrong due to jealousy, unhealthy competition and hatred.
For the bosses who get paid high, this could make them victims of theft, kidnapping, harassment, scams and other forms of negativity due to jealousy.
A system that displays people's salary would solve many problems, but also cause problems for society. These can only be balanced in some way, which includes;
- Publishing the salary range, instead of the actual amount of employees, for instance, Marketing Position; 400.000 - #600.000.
- in case of a crime, only allow government bodies/ regulatory agencies to monitor earnings, not the public.
- There should establish a body that makes sure staff in same positions are paid equally, and fight against inequality and discrimination at work places
- Lastly, give employees the freedom to always communicate their payment issues and educate them on why the company chooses to pay such a certain amount.
In conclusion, a system where there is fairness, transparency and equality can exist without letting out peoples privacy and security.
Pictures are generated through ChatGPT.