That's all true. I've usually asked co-workers I'm friends with, and believe we can both be mature enough, if they want to exchange pay info. I've also told a few people what my salary was when I'm leaving a company, and tell them to share it freely.
Everything you say is true though, it can cause a lot of drama if people start having hard feeling over pay. This is why companies sometimes tell people not to share their salary, or even put it in the company handbook, etc, and I'll say again: it is illegal for a company to tell or even suggest that you not to share you salary.
> And every time I was underpaid I not only didn't get a big raise, but I took much longer than expected to find another job.
How are the two related? Why does being paid less cause you to take longer to find a new job?
>How are the two related? Why does being paid less cause you to take longer to find a new job?
Being paid less didn't actually make me take longer to find another job. But I looked for other jobs to get more money. My point is, simply knowing you are paid less/unfairly is not a silver bullet. Most companies will refuse to give raises on demand, on principle. You most likely can't just get a new job right off either or you would have just done it. So you'll be stuck for months or even years knowing how much less you make than your coworkers. Nobody thinks they'll mind knowing the truth, because they underestimate their own ego and how difficult it is to get more money.
Most businesses would rather pay someone new and unproven significantly more than you're asking rather than give you, say, a random 10% raise. It kinda makes sense, because there's no limit to what you can ask for. Most non-tech people seem to resent how much more we make as well. So for various reasons, they don't want to pay you more and/or don't believe you are worth more, and you have to prove it to them by leaving.
Everything you say is true though, it can cause a lot of drama if people start having hard feeling over pay. This is why companies sometimes tell people not to share their salary, or even put it in the company handbook, etc, and I'll say again: it is illegal for a company to tell or even suggest that you not to share you salary.
> And every time I was underpaid I not only didn't get a big raise, but I took much longer than expected to find another job.
How are the two related? Why does being paid less cause you to take longer to find a new job?