As part of their survey on Money and Ethics, Money Magazine recently asked people whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement:

"You should never let your co-workers know how much you make."

On the online survey, I was out of step with 99% of the responders. I strongly disagreed with the statement. I think people should always know what they're co-workers are earning. It's good for business.

Talk to most employee consultants and they say talking about salaries with co-workers is a bad idea.

My online search found just one consultant who agrees with me - Alexander Kjerulf who consults on how to be happy at work.

The case against secret salaries

There are three major reasons why salaries secret are silly:

1. It frustrates employees because any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.
2. They’re not secret anyway. People talk, you know.
3. It perpetuates unfair salaries which is bad for people and for the organization

It's that third bullet that got my attention. Every couple of months a survey or study is released saying that women typically earn less than men. The reasons are endless: we don't know how to negotiate, we are moms, we don't work as hard as men, we aren't willing to do the same jobs as men and on and on and on.

Kjerulf says the reason salaries are treated like state secrets is that they are basically unfair and making them open feels dangerous in many workplaces.

Yet, here's what the employee consultants say. In an article called shhh, they're talking salaryin USA TODAY from 2002,

Bob Lambert, managing partner at Christian & Timbers in Irvine, Calif., agrees that firing is not the answer to silencing salary talk. "Sit down with people, talk to them about the problem." Be clear: It's not OK to talk salary at the office.

"Discussing compensation makes people uncomfortable because there is implied pressure for them to reciprocate by disclosing their salary," Miller says.

Still tempted to talk about what you're making? Don't.

"It's in your best interest to keep that information to yourself," Miller says. "Smart people listen but don't talk about their own salary."

Think about it from your boss' standpoint. If you just got a raise, don't make them regret it by notifying the entire office.

Many people will tell you that their company policy forbids discussion of salaries and a violation is a fire-able offense.

Not so fast. There's this thing called the National Labor Relations Act

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act gives the vast majority of private sector employees the right to engage in concerted activities for mutual aid and protection. In order to exercise those Section 7 rights effectively, employees must be able to discuss workplace issues and information with their coworkers and with union organizers. The National Labor Relations Board has repeatedly recognized that the discussion of wages and other terms and conditions of employment is protected by Section 7. And the Labor Board has repeatedly held, over many decades, that employer rules that can be reasonably interpreted as restricting employees from discussing wages, rates of pay, salaries, breaks, discipline, work rules, and other terms and conditions of employment violate federal labor law.

As women try to equalize the pay disparity that plagues this country, one step is to advocate a open salary culture in the workplace.

As Kjerouf says,

The case for open salaries

Making salaries public (inside the company of course) has some major advantages:

1. Salaries will become more fair. The system gets a chance to adjust itself.
2. It will be easier to retain the best employees because they’re more likely to feel they’re getting a fair salary.
3. The pressure is on the people with the high salaries to earn their keep. Everybody has to pull their weight - the higher the salary, the larger the weight.

While consultants are saying don't ask and don't tell, CNN.com recently carried an article encouraging people to find out if they were underpaid, the subhead to the article reads
Sharing salary information with colleagues is dangerous, difficult and, if you play it right, pretty darned useful.

Have you shared your salary? Would you share your salary? And do you think that having an open culture on salary could finally help women close the pay gap?

Elana also blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness.

This is cross-posted.