In my opinion salary information should not be kept a secret except on personal request. Openness in pay, responsibilities and performance[0] leads to a far healthier company in my opinion and experience. That is not to say you stick the salary information out in the open in a database for all to check at will but during [pay] reviews I feel it is important to be able to see how much you earn compared to your direct colleagues. This is also good for a company as it means they actively working towards equality.
[0] This is obviously quite difficult because performance can be very tricky to measure fairly and can cause problems in comparisons to other positions. The same is true of performance related bonuses which I am fine with keeping private.
I wonder if the data could be displayed anonymously, i.e. "your salary is 80th percentile in your department" or something like that. It would give you the information without disclosing how much each individual makes.
> i.e. "your salary is 80th percentile in your department" or something like that.
Too little information: There could be 90 people paid peanuts and 10 people paid lavishly, and even in the same "department" some jobs might be radically different.
[0] This is obviously quite difficult because performance can be very tricky to measure fairly and can cause problems in comparisons to other positions. The same is true of performance related bonuses which I am fine with keeping private.