Salaries. The lost art of keeping a secret.

Years ago, in a salary review, I said, “you know everyone under the age of 30 that works here shares their salary with each other”. The room temporarily went silent and then carried on. The comment hit the cutting room floor.

We live in a world that wants transparency but still lacks it.

You can see it from politics to business to the hypergrowth of conspiracy theories.

Salaries.

On one hand, you have the traditional approaches, where a business holds the cards, and the employee doesn’t.

The traditional employment deal depended on information asymmetry, and those in the know acted as a cabal for how the business functions. It was never questioned. You just adopt the secret handshake, and even feel a bit special for being in the know.

On the other hand, we have Reddit, Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, and of course real life, where people will transparently discuss their work life, the approaches their employer takes, the people they work with and the final taboo. Their salaries. Adam, Eve, meet the Apple.

My comment hit the floor for a good reason. It is far too difficult for a traditionally run business to face that reality. It calls into question practices that have been going on for decades. The classic, give person A a pay rise, but person B, who does the same job, gets nothing.

But we no longer live in a world where the business holds all the cards.

The ‘classics’ are no longer sustainable; Pay bands, the negotiation premium, the loyalty penalty all require you not to know. Applying for a role with no salary information. The UK gender pay gap is the measurable example of pay secrecy, and it only started closing once employers were forced to publish it.

This is a generational thing. A Bank of America study reported 60% of Gen Z talk openly about money with friends. Forbes, covering the same study, reported 3% of Boomers talk about their salary. (Sorry I hate Gen Z and Boomers naming terms, but…it works).

You don’t need to take my word for it, just pop on TikTok and Instagram, and you are inundated with street interviews with people openly talking about salaries and money (are they all telling the truth? Maybe, maybe not, but they are sharing). This is a demonstration of a cultural shift.

They're not talking because they're bolder. They're talking because they're cash poor in an expensive world, and comparing notes is the only way to find out whether you're being had.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive was meant to be law across Europe by June this year. Salary ranges published before interviews, and a ban on asking what you currently earn. Only four of the 27 member states actually managed it on time.

Which tells you something in itself. The law is moving slower than the culture.

The businesses with nothing to fear are the ones who were paying fairly all along.

And the ones who publish before the law makes them get something the late adopters never will. Trust from people who watched them choose it.

Publish now and it's a decision. Publish later and it's compliance.