Nothing to fear if employer discloses salaries

Ready for another crazy but great money idea that could change your life for the better?

Salary transparency. At your workplace. Meaning: Everyone knows what everyone else gets paid, every year.

No, wait, stick with me here. I know you suddenly feel a little ill. But salary transparency works to your advantage.

It’s an idea most commonly discussed as an ideal in recent years among Silicon Valley tech companies, but it shouldn’t end there.

San Antonio-based software engineer Nancy Hawa of DevResults, a data-organization and visualization company based in Washington, D.C., pushed for salary transparency in her 12-person company earlier this year. DevResults decided to take the plunge.

Her CEO and COO released to employees not only what all employees make this year but the entire history of everyone’s compensation.

The initial feeling among Hawa and her colleagues was dismay, she admitted. She said the higher-paid employees in the office held their heads at their desks in a kind of awkward embarrassment. Lower-paid employees such as Hawa held their breath, watching to see what would happen next.

To the credit of DevResults’ leaders, they announced that despite what appeared to be “unfair pay,” nobody would earn less as a result. Over time, Hawa reports, lower-paid employees received a pay bump to put them in line with their colleagues. Transparency for Hawa meant she will be paid a lot more.