The Taboo of Sharing Salaries and its Consequences: Research Findings

Research conducted at a large commercial bank in Asia revealed that sharing salaries is considered taboo and breaking this taboo can have consequences. In an experiment with several hundred bank employees, it was found that workers were overly confident in their knowledge of their colleagues' salaries, with 60% of them believing they could guess the average salary within 5%. However, only a third of people were actually able to do so. This lack of accurate information can impact salary negotiations and willingness to approach employers for raises. Gender differences were observed, with women being less confident in their knowledge of their peers' salaries compared to men. However, both genders were similarly informed on average when making guesses about others' earnings, indicating that they were able to adjust for the gender wage gap. These findings highlight the importance of accurate salary information and the potential impact of the salary taboo on workplace dynamics.